


Project 'C'.

by CALLEN37



Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Betrayal, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-05
Updated: 2014-06-02
Packaged: 2018-01-22 01:51:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1571603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CALLEN37/pseuds/CALLEN37
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A case crosses with Callen's past and he finds out things about himself he never knew his whole life is turned upside down when the team leader becomes hunted. WIP.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Callen woke up, checked the traffic report and got out of bed. He knew the route that Sam would take to pick him up as he located his GPS; he put coffee on and headed for the shower.

True to form as Sam pulled up Callen was standing outside with 2 to go cups of coffee.

"Morning." Sam said having stopped wondering years ago how he did that.

Callen grinned, "Morning, did you have a good weekend?"

"Not bad Michelle and I took Rachel up to Disneyland, you should have come. It was fun." Sam smiled.

Callen climbed into the car, "Yeah fun," he said his voice saying to him a weekend in Disneyland with thousands of screaming children was anything but.

"What did you do?" Sam asked.

"Read, played Chess, did some gardening…" Callen said.

"You could have got your reports done…" Sam laughed knowing how behind he was.

"No way, my house is a technology free zone." Callen said, "There's enough work at work I don't need to bring it home." He complained.

Sam nodded, he'd been trying to get Callen to buy a TV and a couch ever since he'd brought the house, wanting somewhere 'girl-free' to watch the games with, but Callen resisted every time.

Pulling into the parking lot at the side of the mission Callen grabbed his bag and walked inside.

* * *

"It's not my fault!" Deeks yelled as Kensi twisted his arm behind his back.

"Yes it is….you did something to it!" she snapped at him as she glared at her computer screen.

Callen dropped his bag, "what's going on?" he snapped, he was more tired than usual, and he felt a bit off.

"Deeks did something to my computer, it keeps showing a bleeding heart!" she cried, "Eric and Nell aren't in yet and he won't fix it."

"I didn't do it; I don't know what happened, maybe when you took it home this weekend it picked up a virus?" Deeks suggested.

"Yeah?" Kensi stopped and looked at him, "Or you sent me one, all I did was Skype with you!"

Callen walked over and looked at the computer hit a few keys and smiled, "All gone, now can we get back to work?" he asked.

Deeks and Kensi stared at him, "You…? You fixed it?" she asked awed.

"Eric and Nell weren't always here you know…before them we had to do this sort of thing, it's easy…" and for Callen it was. Computers had always…well as long as he could remember come easy to him, he could just look inside the computer, see where the problem was and figure out the right file path to fix it.

He figured everyone could do it.

He shrugged and walked over to finish his after action reports, most of which he'd done in his head in the car on the way to work.

He printed them out and handed them to Hetty.

"Thank you Mr. Callen, working hard again I see." She said.

Callen smiled, "Yeah…he headed to the Armory to work on his gun."

* * *

Hetty watched him go as her phone rang, she answered it and all signs of amusement were wiped from her face.

"When was he taken?" she said urgently.

She listened to the man on the other end and stood up and walked into the bullpen.

"We have a case." She said quietly.

"I'll get Callen." Sam got up to go to the armory.

"No…Mr. Callen is not to be read in on this case." Hetty said.

The others looked worried and followed her up the stairs.

Eric and Nell looked surprised as Hetty walked in. "Do we have a case?" Nell asked.

"We do…" Hetty walked over to the computers and typed a code and a redacted file opened.

"Daniel Hurst was kidnapped this morning, He was a scientist with the CIA…his work was in applied Genetics and advance computer technology."

"So…" Sam started looking around, "Why is Callen out of the loop."

"Hetty!" Callen's voice came from downstairs, he ran up the stairs and into ops. "You can't keep me out of the loop on this one."

"Bugger!" Hetty swore and turned to face her agent.

"I have to help him…" Callen looked at the photo of the man who taught Callen everything he knew about being a human being, all his rules, his attitude and his caring for others no matter what came from him.

"Mr. Callen, you can't…it's not…You have been told….!"Hetty started but Callen cut her off.

"Don't tell me it's not appropriate, did they take Emma or Jessie?" he asked worried.

"No, they are safe…I didn't realize you kept in touch?" Hetty said surprised.

"Dan was/is my doctor and for a while my family, he was one of the nice ones and kept in touch my whole life, I can't just sit here while he's out there in danger."

"Mr. Callen, you can and you will stand down from an active role in this investigation, on the orders of the CIA. You are not to interfere, however, I think it might help if you go with Sam to see Emma Hurst and help with reassuring your friend that we will do all in our power to bring him home safely."

Callen nodded, "Fine, but…Hetty…I…"

"Be grateful I am allowing you this much." She cut him off and he strode from the OPS center and headed downstairs.

"Mr. Deeks, Ms Blye…Mr. Hurst worked for the CIA but had a downtown LA office, I'd like you to see if you can get some information on any current projects he was working on, anything that could compromise national security." Hetty said.

"I'll send the address to your Smartphone's." Nell said as she pulled the address up of Daniel Hurst's practice.

Callen paced Hetty's office waiting for her to arrive.

"Mr. Callen, I have said everything I am going to say, now you may go and assist Mr. Hanna in the questioning of Mrs. Hurst and Jessica, but that is it until I am told otherwise."

Callen nodded and turned to find Sam waiting, keys to the challenger in his hand.

* * *

They pulled up outside a large mansion in Beverley Hills.

"Wow nice place." Sam said looking at the house, Callen nodded, lost in a time back when he first saw the house.

He was seven, he'd arrived in America from Romania two years before, his English was still rusty and he was scared, he'd only been in group homes and they hadn't been very nice or welcoming and now the same two people in suits who had taken his sister away from him had come to take him again. He had been silent in the car the whole journey and stared with wonder at the huge house and the man standing with his wife at the door.

"Behave Callen, you're being given a great gift, you'll be able to help your country someday." The dark man in sunglasses told him.

"I will?" he asked confused.

"Yeah…" the man got out of the car and grabbed Callen's bag. "Come on kid, meet the doc."

"I do not need a doctor, I am not sick?" Callen said worried.

Emma crouched down and smiled at the boy, "Hey, you must be Callen, my name is Emma Hurst…I hope you enjoy staying with us." She said.

"Are you going to be my new mommy?" Callen asked.

Emma shook her head, "No…your mommy will always be your mommy, but we are going to look after you for a while, my husband is a doctor, you're sick Callen, you need our help to get better." She said carefully.

"I don't feel sick?" Callen said confused.

Daniel bent down and looked at the small boy, "I know you don't…do you remember the tests you took when you first arrived?" he asked.

Callen nodded, all the needles had scared him.

"Well, we found a nasty bug in your head, we have to operate on it to make it go away, so you've been sent to stay with us until you're all better." He said, "Come on Emma will show you to your room." He said handing his wife the boy's bag.

Daniel watched his wife take Callen inside and he turned to the two men in suits, "Tell your bosses, this is our last chance, I understand why the mother had to die, there was no way she would have allowed us to do this, but letting the daughter escape and drown…that was just sloppy, I had already said I wanted the boy, he is the most viable candidate, he won't even realize he's different as he gets older.

* * *

Sam knocked on the door, jolting Callen out of his reverie.

The door opened and an old woman opened it cautiously. Then she smiled, "Callen!" she exclaimed holding her arms out.

Callen stepped into the hug, much to the amusement of his partner.

"Em, this is Sam Hanna, my partner, we're investigating Dan's disappearance." He said.

"Come in." she said.

They entered the house it was immaculate and Sam stopped in the lounge to look at some pictures on the mantel piece.

There were pictures of Daniel and Emma over the years, a few of a young woman, from birth to childhood, and some of Callen at varying ages, some with the young woman and some without.

"Nice family." Sam remarked smirking at Callen.

Callen ignored him and looked over at Emma who had sat back in her chair.

"Em?" he asked concerned.

"I'm alright Callen, just old now, it's been a while since you were here…I know you still see Dan, he tells me, he told me about you being shot. You didn't even come and visit."

"I'm sorry," Callen looked genuinely remorseful. "Can you tell me when you last saw Dan?" he asked gently mindful of how frail the woman looked.

"About an hour after he met with you for your physical G, he met us for lunch, you were supposed to come remember." A younger woman's voice came from the door behind them.

Callen's face lit up, "Jessie?!" he said turning.

A thirty year old woman with auburn hair and eyes as blue as his walked through carrying a tea tray. She placed it on the coffee table and enveloped Callen in a hug.

"I've missed you…" she said.

"Obviously…?!" Callen grinned looking at the prominent bulge in her belly and Sam shot him a look.

She flashed a ring at him, "I got married G, you were overseas at the time."

"When?" he asked confused.

"Last Christmas, I married Steven Cassinelli, our son is due in four months." She smiled.

"Congratulations," Callen said steering her to a chair.

Sam waited patiently watching Callen and wondering if this would be what he would have been like if he'd had a family.

"Sorry Sam, this is Jessica Cassinelli, Emma and Dan's daughter…my foster sister." He said, "Jess, this is Sam Hanna my partner at NCIS."

Sam and Jessica shook hands as she motioned for them all to take a seat.

"We waited all Friday for Dan to show up, we knew he was giving you your physical and we just assumed he had asked you for dinner and you were giving him a hard time again." Emma said with a smile that showed Sam just how beautiful she had been in her youth.

"Mom!" Callen said without thinking, "I came for dinner a month ago." He argued.

"Never enough, you know that." Emma said not acknowledging his slip, he had a few times called her mom and she liked it and didn't like to draw his attention to it lest he stop.

* * *

"Is Dan working on anything right now that would make someone want to kidnap him?" Callen asked.

"No…not at all, not that I know of…"

"What about a patient?" Sam asked, "Callen said Mr. Hurst was a doctor?"

"Callen was his only living patient, he had another, a girl, she ran away and drowned, she was a troubled soul." Emma said looking sadly at Callen.

"I was his only patient?" Callen asked surprised.

"Of course dear, with you the experiment worked perfectly, he didn't need to do it again." Emma said confused, surely by now having worked for the CIA and now NCIS Callen knew what he was? Of course, he had not said anything to her over the years but then Callen had probably been told to keep it a secret.

"Who was the girl?" Sam asked, maybe she had relatives that wanted Daniel dead.

Emma shook her head looking at Callen surprised, "Why Amy, your sister…you two were perfect for the project." She said as Callen sat stunned looking at both her and Sam.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Callen sat there for a moment in shock; they knew Amy...then the most important part filtered through, "Project? What project?" he asked.

"G, you worked for the CIA, I assumed they had activated you and read you in on Project C?" Emma said cursing herself for revealing the secret.

"I think you need to come with us…we're going to have to ask you some questions." Sam said looking over at his rapidly paling partner.

Callen stood up, "I have to talk to Hetty…" he said.

"Can't you just access the file?" Emma asked.

"Don't have a laptop with me." Callen said, "And you said it was classified?"

"But?" Emma looked confused, "They never…Oh my God!" she exclaimed, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

Callen strode out to the car and sat in the passenger seat as Jessie and Emma got in the back of the challenger for the ride to the boat shed.

A few times Emma tried to talk to Callen, but he stared out the window, his mind scrolling through different files looking for any mention of a Project C.

Walking into the boat shed both Hetty and Granger were waiting for them.

"Mrs. Hurst?" Hetty said and held out her hand.

"You must be Hetty Lange, my husband speaks highly of you." She said.

Hetty nodded, "This is Owen Granger, I am sorry you need to come down here, but we need more information." She said.

"Yeah like what is project C and how was I a part of it and how do you know my sister?" Callen snapped.

"Agent Callen, you are to stand down now, I will talk to Mrs. Hurst." Granger said.

Callen opened his mouth as if to argue, but the look on Hetty, Emma and Granger's faces stopped him cold.

"Fine." He said

Both Emma and Granger headed to the interrogation room.

Hetty turned to follow them, when she stopped and looked back, "Mr. Callen, you should head back to complete your paperwork…now."

Callen nodded once and turned to go leaving Sam watching the interrogations from the screen.

He didn't get far though; he turned and walked back to the edge of the room his hands resting behind Sam on the table without alerting him to his presence.

* * *

Granger sat down and Sam turned the volume up. "Mrs. Hurst, what can you tell me about Project C?" He asked.

Emma sat there, "What is your security clearance, I have already made a mistake by assuming that G had been read in or at least activated."

Granger pulled his credentials and showed her, "Do you think that this is the reason that your husband has gone missing?" he asked.

Emma nodded, "Yeah…I mean he's been on the same project from afar for thirty three years."

"Since Mr. Callen was seven yes?" Hetty asked walking into the room. "I'm Hetty Lange, Mr. Callen's boss."

"You were read in?" Emma asked.

"I am aware of Mr. Callen's ….unique abilities…yes." Hetty said as she moved to take the chair Granger had just vacated. Granger turned and looked at her.

"So you know what he is…and why my husband and myself kept him close all those years, Callen is part of a CIA experiment, I was I admit surprised when I found out he'd been allowed to leave the CIA. However, my husband was told it had been a clerical error. He stayed on as Callen's doctor, he had to…You know G can't be taken to a normal doctor Ms. Lange if they saw the implants, they'd investigate."

"I know this is why I was brought on board after he was shot, we had to have someone in place, I did meet Dr. Hurst at the hospital, and I had the CIA bring him in as soon as I received word of his shooting." Hetty said.

Granger stepped to the side of the table bringing the attention to him, "Sorry, Callen has an implant?"

Hetty's phone beeped with a message, she looked down and swore, "Bugger."

"Yes Owen, Mr. Callen has a processing chip in his head, he can connect to the internet remotely he doesn't need a computer,"

Outside Sam stared at the screen in shock and Callen stood up his eyes going wide.

"He never said?" Owen snapped.

"He never knew, that isn't our problem right now, our problem is that since Dr. Hurst is missing, the CIA has issued a kill order on Mr. Callen," Hetty said grimly.

* * *

Sam's head snapped round at an in-drawn breath behind him. He turned to see Callen stepping back from the table, turning, and bolting for the door.

"G!" Sam yelled as the door to the boat shed slammed shut.

Sam turned and moved to go to the interrogation room, as his phone rang.

"Michelle? Now isn't the time honey, is everything ok?"

"No, everything isn't ok, I've just been issued orders to kill Callen?" she said her voice shaking.

"You can't, this isn't his fault." Sam said.

"I don't know what's going on Samuel Hanna, but you sort it NOW!" his wife ordered, "I will not be responsible for killing your best friend," she slammed the phone down as Hetty and Granger walked into the room,

"Well…Damn!" he swore.

"Mr. Hanna?" Hetty asked,

Sam looked up worried, "Callen was behind me, he heard everything…and Hetty, Michelle told me that she's been assigned to take Callen out."

"Can you stall your wife?" Granger asked.

Sam smiled, "She's ordered me to sort it out before she has to shoot my daughter's uncle."

Callen ran from the building, he could not believe what he had heard; He had something in his head? Emma and Daniel, two of his favorite foster parents, two of the very few adults in his life he had trusted had lied to him!

He hailed a cab threw his phone inside, and gave the driver $50, "Drive this anywhere." He said. The man nodded and took off; Callen hailed a second cab and gave the man an address one road over from his home.

He got out and looked down the road, he could see a car parked outside his house with two men inside, he smirked and walked the other way, and he went to the empty house behind his and climbed over the fence. Slipping inside he managed to grab his bag, bedroll and the box off the mantel and slipped back out again.

He walked across the top of his street, the men in the car had not moved and he carried on away from his home. He stopped as he checked the GPS on Sam's car and on the others and watched in shock as the GPS on each car he was tracking disappeared from his vision.

He knew he needed to disappear completely, blocking his view from cameras was getting harder and harder, but, this was his town, he had grown up here, he had been homeless here a lot and he knew how to hide.

He did up his hoodie, adjusted his ball cap, and headed to Venice beach.

He pulled up for a second as he saw Hetty sat at their prearranged meeting place, he looked around and saw two people who looked out of place, and shook his head. She was selling him out; she had known and had not told him.

The one thing Callen had in huge abundance was a healthy dose of self-preservation and he knew then that everyone he trusted had turned against him, he could not trust any of them, and Sam had been heading to his house, presumably to meet up with the CIA agents. He had 'seen' the kill order that the CIA had sent out and then to see Hetty, the woman who he had trusted sitting in their pre-arranged meeting spot while being tailed by other agents sealed the deal, he was alone again.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Callen headed to a spot he had used as a child, he needed to gather his thoughts and process the information he had learned.

Processed….that word had had a whole other meaning 24 hours ago. He thought grimly.

He needed answers and to get them he needed to find Daniel Hurst.

He could not stay at a motel, they'd be looking for him, shelters weren't safe either, he smiled as he walked up to the small building, it was still empty and boarded up, he pried a sheet of metal away from the rotting wood in the back window and climbed inside.

As expected his walk through the musty and dank building confirmed it was empty, he climbed to the top floor avoiding rotting stairs and floorboards, going to a window at the front of the building. He did not need to open it, the glass in the window had been broken years ago, he smiled at the memory, he had broken it himself when he was thirteen, this was one of his boltholes that no one, not even child services, had found. He ran his hand over the inscription in the rotting wood frame, G. Callen, '82. Remembering when he had hidden here last.

He lay out his bedroll, opened a bottle of water, and took a small drink, already realizing the need to ration the food and water he had managed to take from his house.

He lay back and closed his eyes, his mind rapidly scanning the files in his head; He did not think he was anything different, he knew he was smarter that some people, but then other people were smarter than he was. He had always thought like this, there could not be anything in his head, could there be? In addition…if there was could the CIA use it to track him and kill him?

He didn't know, although he hoped not, he needed to find Daniel Hurst and find out what he had done to him as a child, and why he'd done the same thing to his sister….Did his sister really drown, or had the CIA killed her too? Was his mother killed because of this project and not because of the Comescu's?

He had so many questions; he opened his eyes swiping angrily at the tears that were sneaking their ways out of his eyes.

He had trusted the Hurst's more than Hetty, more than the Rostoffs, more than Sam. They had been the nearest thing he had known in his life as family and they had lied to him, they had known his sister, they had ….he stopped as his mind suddenly flipped correlating all the little bit of information he had on the Hurst's. Small things that at the time, as a child he had not understood, but now it was making more sense.

* * *

Callen had woken up in hospital, his head hurt and he could hear voices in the background.

"He'll be awake soon, what's the processing speed?" A man said.

"Over 30 terabytes, this is the most ever recorded, it seems to be interacting with his imagination, I mean, doctor he seems to be synchronizing."

"Good….Good, I told them he'd be good for this, ever since I saw his brain scans after the accident, I realized he had the gene mutation that made him perfect for this, the injury…giving him brain damage in just the right place helped tremendously." A pleased voice said.

"Do you think the lack of brain damage in the first subject was what made her…default?"

"Possibly, that and the attachment to her family, she wanted her mother and baby brother. This subject doesn't have that problem and he is our last chance, the mother died and if it doesn't work with him, then if he survives we would have to hope he grew up and had children with the same genetic mutation, he is the last of his line, there are no more Callen's to work with."

Callen stirred, "Mama?" he said

A woman's hand…Emma's he thought… reached over and stroked his head, "Shh, you're being very brave, sleep now," She said and he closed his eyes and slept again.

He filed that memory and found himself standing in Daniel Hurst's office, Daniel smiled at him, "That's good Callen; I need you to do these puzzles for me."

He handed Callen a book full of code encryptions, "Can you unscramble these for me?"

Callen smiled at Daniel and looked over at the large jar of Tootsie pops on his desk. "Our deal still stands one piece of candy for each puzzle." Daniel said.

Callen grabbed the pencil that Daniel held out and climbed up onto the big chair by his foster father's desk.

Within moments, he was handing over the first encryption. He smiled as he was given the candy, he unwrapped the sucker and then put it in his mouth, it helped him concentrate….Callen smiled in his reverie, and it still did help him concentrate.

Daniel had taken all the puzzles and walked out leaving Callen sat in the oversized chair, eating the candy and reading a comic in his head.

Within minutes Daniel and a smaller woman…Hetty! He realized with a start had come in, she was looking at him strangely, "He did this, the boy…Clara's boy?" Hetty said.

Daniel smiled, "Yes Ma'am, the processor is working perfectly, and by the time he's old enough to work for us he should be fully integrated."

"And he won't suffer the same effect as Amy?" she asked.

"No, the brain damage that happened on his extraction from Romania was in the perfect place, the chip fits in there perfectly." Daniel said watching the child's eyes move as if he was reading.

"Callen? What are you doing?" Daniel asked.

"Nothing…." Callen said guiltily.

Daniel and Hetty stared at him and he started shaking, "I'm sorry!" he exclaimed looking scared. "I was reading a comic."

Hetty smiled and walked over to the child, "Was it a good comic?" she asked.

"Batman…he was fighting the Joker and Robin was helping…I like Batman and Robin, they are like me, they don't have any parents and they fight bad guys." Callen grinned.

Hetty could not help herself and she smiled back, "Would you like to fight bad guys some day?" she asked.

Callen nodded and sucked on the sucker, Hetty looked at him, slightly sadly, "I hope one day Mr. Callen you get your wish."

She turned to Daniel, "How much longer is he with you?" she asked as they headed to the door.

He walked out of the room with her and closed the door, "He has to go this weekend, he's been with us for two months, isn't there anything you can do Hetty? We'd like to keep him, but the CIA want him toughened up, they want to let him loose in the system, please?" Daniel sounded desperate and in truth, he was.

"No…there is nothing I can do, but he will always be monitored and I may be able to have him placed with you for the odd weekend, also I have made a request that you stay as his doctor, if any other doctor saw him or the implant was discovered they would be ramifications." She said.

Hetty looked over at the sweet boy, "Oh Mr. Callen, I am so sorry, your life is about to get much harder."

* * *

Six years later Callen was running. He did a lot of that, running, sometimes from bullies at school, sometimes from bullies at home, other kids in homes, foster parents. He found he was good at running.

This time it was his latest foster parent, the foster father had been mean and nasty, his wife was a waitress and she worked at night and slept during the day, so she had no contact with him. However, the father, he was an evil man, and Callen had known that from the first moment he had seen the man.

Sasha Masters his current social worker walked up the path with him, "This is for your own good Callen, Mike Johnson and his wife Stella are good people." She said.

Callen's mind ran rapidly looking for any mention of Mike Johnson or Stella Johnson in his mind. Stella was squeaky clean, but Mike…he had a false file, he quickly dug through the redacted parts of his file and stopped dead.

"I'm not staying here!" he snapped at Sasha.

"They are good people G, they've been thoroughly vetted." She argued, it was late and she couldn't place him anywhere else.

"Do it again, Johnson's been arrested for child abuse, he beat a kid half to death in Florida." He told her.

"Oh come on G, you couldn't possibly know that, stop messing me around," She snapped. "Mike is a good man and this will be a good placement for you, they can only have you for two weeks so just behave yourself."

"No!" G grabbed his bag from her arm and pulled.

"Callen!" She grabbed him by the arm and marched him up the driveway, "God help me boy, you mess up and I'll have you thrown in Juvenile hall for a month!" she threatened him.

Callen had heard stories about that place not only from adults, but also from kids that had actually been there, it was the foster kid version of hell and most social worker knew it and used it to keep the kids in line. So he went quiet, the best thing to do in situations like this were to shut up and bide your time.

And he had…it had taken two whole days until Johnson lost his temper and started hitting him.

He'd gone to school and had a run in with a group of bullies, they had, as most kids in most schools did eventually, found out he was a foster kid. They had pushed him in the hallways and tripped him at dinner, which really annoyed him as he didn't care about having subsidized meals but he did hate the fact that it was the only meal he would eat. Stella was out at work and Mike didn't want the kid eating  _ **his**_  food.

He had kept his temper until one of the kids, Stan had pinned him up against a wall in a circle of his friends taunting him.

Stannislav Vocovich was a six-foot tall quarterback, he had the respect of the school and he knew it.

"You're weird!" Stan yelled at Callen, "No one loves you, you're just nothing, ya don't even have a name!" he laughed.

Callen looked at his feet, he knew he was alone but he hated this.

"G, G, G, Got no friend, got no brother, no one loves him not even his mother…." Stan chanted as he friends laughed.

G made a fist and punched him on the nose; he wriggled away from the older boy's grip. "You're just a liar Stannislav!" G yelled his tears of frustration evident.

"You tell everyone your dad is a marine, he isn't he's a crook, he's in prison…you aren't even American, you were born in Russia, your dad's in Black Dolphin Prison, you ain't ever gonna see him again!" he yelled as he threw punches without looking.

Stan stopped, he knew his father was in prison, but he hadn't told a soul, the only other person who knew was his mother.

"FREAK!" he screamed and beat him harder.

Callen protected his head as best he could and fought back. "I'm not a freak!" he groaned as Stan kicked him in the stomach, he groaned and rolled away as a teacher yelled and all the kids scattered.

"I'm not done with you freak!" Stan snarled as he ran off leaving Callen curled up on the ground.

Alone, Callen moved away as the teacher's hand touched him on the shoulder flinching at the contact.

"Callen? It's Mr. Marshall, are you ok?" he asked.

"'m fine…please…" Callen asked sitting up, protecting his ribs and wiping his eyes.

"Let's take you to the nurse hey?" Mr. Marshall said helping Callen up.

Callen shook off the helping hand and followed him to the nurses office, he winced as he saw his reflection in the mirror, Stella had brought him a new shirt today and it was now dirty and torn a large rip in one arm.

The nurse dabbed iodine on the worst of his cuts and wrote him a note to send him home.

He limped away from the school and turned in the direction of the Johnsons.

Arriving home Mike was standing at the door, mad as hell. He'd had a call from Stan's mother telling him that the boy they'd fostered was a freak and that he knew things that no one else knew.

Callen looked up as his foster father glowered at him, "Look at you! Stella spends good money on ya and ya repay her by treating her stuff like shit!" he yelled grabbing Callen by the hair and dragging him inside.

Callen took a calming breath, this was going to hurt.

Two hours later, Mike had thrown what was left of him in his room and started hitting the whisky. An hour later and all sound from downstairs ceased.

Then Callen pulled himself out of the window, feeling his ankle twist as he landed on the ground and he ran, or rather limped away.

As light rose over Los Angeles he came across and empty building, pulling a corner of a large plywood board away from the back window he slowly made his way upstairs.

He watched as the sun rose and scanned the pictures in his head, he hadn't been reported missing yet, so he climbed into his bed roll and got a few hours of safe sleep.

* * *

Waking up G checked the reports, there was nothing, this was unexpected until he saw a report pop up and then disappeared again off the grid, 'Eric' he thought to himself with a smile.

Hetty must have told him to wipe everything about the CIA being after him, he tried looking into other reports, anything pertaining to Daniel Hurst, he had to find him, he was the only one who could convince Hetty it wasn't true, he wasn't a freak.

He worried that the lack of flag from Eric or Nell, in his mind meant that Hetty was siding with the CIA. He looked through the files that Hetty had brought up yesterday on Daniel Hurst, there was a small file at the back, he'd nearly missed. Hurst had been followed by the CIA since Callen's last medical visit last month. Callen remembered being asked to go undercover on a case for the CIA, but he'd been working flat out with the team looking for a Dirty Nuclear bomb and he hadn't been able to assist them. Was this the reason that Daniel had been taken?

One thing he did know, Daniel had used him as a child, but Jessie was expecting her first child, Jessie hadn't known about what had happened to him, she hadn't even been born at that point. She was the closest thing Callen could remember to a sister, and she was expecting her baby. Callen made his mind up, although he did have questions for Daniel and Emma when he could get his hands on them, that baby was going to have two parents and two grandparents. He wouldn't be responsible for destroying another child's life.

* * *

Sam paced Ops while Eric tried to stare him down.

"I'm sorry Sam, Hetty's orders NOTHING goes on up here, it's her laptop only. something about the office being unsecure." He looked slightly afraid, but Eric was more scared of Hetty than Sam.

"Have you heard anything?" Nell asked. "I heard Callen's gone lone wolf."

"I can't talk about it." Sam snapped, He grabbed Nell's arm and pulled her out of OPS and into the hallway.

"Sam?" she asked.

"I need your help...G needs your help, I need you to open a file inside the Hurst file, make it hard to find."

"What's in it?" Nell asked.

"A note, just say, G, Michelle got the order, wants you alive...Trust Hetty, Trust the team...Meet me at spot number 2." Sam said.

"Where do I send it?" she asked.

"Nowhere, just put it in the file, he'll find it." Sam said with a smile.

"How? he doesn't have his phone, we tracked it he paid a cab driver to take it all the way to Studio City." Nell said confused.

"G will find it, Please he needs to know, right now he knows there's a CIA Kill order out on him, he needs to know we won't kill him."

Nell sighed and walked back into the laptop and typed it in.

"Can you tell when it's been accessed?" Sam asked.

Nell nodded and typed a command into the laptop.

"It's already been looked at, but..." she typed in a command, "How? this can't be right?" she said confused.

"What?" Sam asked.

"It's been accessed but there is no IP address, it's just...blank?"

Sam smiled, "Good Callen's got it."

"How? How can he do that, everyone leaves some sort of trace?"

Sam smiled, "Thanks Nell, If Hetty asked tell her I've gone out for coffee."

He walked out leaving Nell looking confused and Eric still looking slightly scared, hoping against hope that Callen trusted him enough to turn up.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Sam walked up to the coffee shop that both he and G had picked out as their second rendezvous spot brought a coffee and sat on a park bench a little away from the shop where he could get a good look at the crowd. He sat down avoiding the homeless man crouched on the floor with his back to him, he looked roughed up and dirty.

"Sam." The homeless man said getting up and sitting on the bench a good distance from him.

"G?" Sam looked horrified, it had only been 48 hours and Callen looked like hell.

His clothes, the same ones he had been in last time they saw him looked torn and grubby, his bag was strapped tightly to his body protecting the contents. Worse were his face and eyes, they looked lost and haunted, and worse even while talking to Sam he was skittish and wary of his surroundings even to the point of jumping as a car backfired.

"G, you need to come back with us…Michelle wants to help, to keep you safe." He pleaded.

"They lied to me Sam, they lied for so long and I worked for them, they could have told me…Het…Hetty knew and she didn't tell me, Amy died because of this, Mom…maybe mom died because of this and…he's right…I'm a freak…" Callen broke off and turned as a woman walked by them on her mobile phone; he did a quick trace in his head and relaxed as he traced her call to a local dentist.

He turned his attention back to Sam who had stopped and was watching him.

"What you doing?" he asked concerned at the way G had blanked out, the only other time's he'd seen this sort of behavior was when Eric was talking in his ear.

"Nothing." Callen snapped, "Just checking, its ok she was talking to her dentist." He said softly.

"Who was talking to a dentist?" Sam was worried that Callen was maybe injured.

But G shook his head, "The woman with the stroller who just walked past on her phone."

Sam looked amazed, "And you can do that? I mean in your head like that I always thought you asked Eric." He said and Callen cocked his head at him and gave a small smirk.

"Never have before." He admitted. "I figured you could all see them."

"Them?" Sam asked again.

"The waves and signals from electrical things, hers, its blue, that's a local call, if it were long distance it would be orange and if it were a secure government line, well they're red." He explained he still didn't understand how they couldn't see them, but he had learned long ago not to push people on what he thought they could see.

Sam shook his head and looked at Callen, "Come back, please…Hetty wants to help you, Michelle wants to help as well, she's stalling the CIA as long as possible, she doesn't want my daughter to lose her favorite uncle."

Callen looked sad, more than anything he wanted to trust him and Sam hadn't let him down in the past.

"I didn't ask for this Sam, I didn't even know…I bet they all think I'm a freak now. I just want my life back…but my sister died because of this and maybe my mother, I need to find Daniel before he dies too, no one else is gonna die because of this Sam, not even me…especially not me." Callen gave Sam a full on smile.

"You gonna come back? I've got your back and I promise you'll be safe, at least come back and talk to Hetty…and maybe take a shower?" Sam grinned back at his partner.

Callen stood up and walked away for a moment, leaving his bag beside Sam in a small gesture of trust.

"OK…Ok Sam, but…if anything happens I'm out of here for good, the only reason I'm doing this now is that Hetty is actively blocking all my searches."

"She's hurt G, she waited for you to meet with her and you never showed." Sam explained.

"Yeah I did, she showed and two CIA agents were with her, but you're sure I can trust her now?"

"She's Hetty." Sam said by way of explanation.

"and…?" Callen said, "I trust you Sam, you're my partner and I trust Michelle and if you say she's trying to help me I believe you, but Hetty has lied to me. I remembered vaguely, she was around in my childhood, she knew about this project, she knew about Amy. She has already told me she knew my mother and kept that information to herself and you heard her Sam, she knew about the implant, the chip…she  _ **never**_  said a word!" Callen looked upset but buried his feelings down, "How much more does she know that she isn't sharing Sam, how much more does she know about me?!"

Sam stood up, grabbed G's bag, and walked over to his friend, "Let's go home and find out G." He said softly and led the way to his car.

* * *

With the windows cranked down Sam headed towards the mission while G slept exhausted in the passenger seat.

Pulling up outside the mission Sam sent Hetty a quick text as G woke up.

"Really?" Callen said looking at the text message Sam had just sent as if it were floating through the air in front of him. "I do not smell that bad."

Sam looked at him, "Yeah ya do G, where you been sleeping?"

Callen shrugged, "Here and there." He said noncommittally.

"Head round the back and into the showers," Sam told him, "I'll let Hetty know you're here."

Callen nodded and went in the back way and five minutes later was stood in the showers washing the filth of the last few days off him.

As he washed the last of the soap out of his eyes he turned to see Sam holding a towel and a clean set of clothes for him.

"Hetty?" Callen asked as he reached over the stall to take the towel Sam was holding out.

"Yeah, Hetty…She wants to see you in her office." Sam said as Callen walked out and picked up the clothes.

"Five minutes?" Callen asked.

Sam nodded, "I'll be right outside the door." He said.

"You guarding me Sam?" Callen asked warily.

Sam smiled, "Nope, I'm protecting your scrawny butt. Now get dressed." He said, turned and walked outside the room to give Callen some privacy.

Three minutes later Callen was dressed, he opened the door to see Sam leaning nonchalantly against the door frame waiting for him.

"Still feels like you're guarding me." Callen said as Sam fell into step behind him.

* * *

He walked into Hetty's office and stopped looking hungrily at the Styrofoam carton of bacon and eggs and the mug of tea sitting next to it.

"Eat Mr. Callen, and then we will talk." Hetty said pointing towards the food.

Callen's stomach gurgled, but he didn't move.

He looked at the food and then looked at her.

"I understand you do not trust me, Mr. Hanna picked up the food while you were in the shower." She said.

Callen shot Sam a look, when he nodded he walked over to the food and started eating completely ignoring the tea.

Sam looked at him worried, he had lost weight in the two days he hadn't seen his friend, but it was his totally untrusting demeanor that worried him the most.

He had moved so that Hetty was in sight the whole time and he hadn't said a word to her, but his eyes never left her hands. If she put them in a pocket she might just have something to signal the CIA he was there.

He finished his food and pulled a bottle of water out of his bag to wash it down.

Hetty sighed at the lack of trust she now felt for him. She went to reach into her draw and he started.

"Wait…Mr. Callen I am getting out a file for you."

She took the folder from the drawer and placed it on the table between them.

' _ **\- Only to be opened in the event of my death**_.' It said in large bold letters across the front.

Callen stared at it.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Everything I know about you." Hetty said pushing it towards him as a peace offering.

Callen frowned at her, "How does this help me find Daniel Hurst?" he asked.

"Right now, this is useless to me…unless you know how to find Dan?"

Hetty shook her head, "One second." She picked up the phone and Callen watched the emissions change from small green lines to a blue one heading to ops. "Mr. Beale, remove the firewall."

Callen sighed as suddenly he had access to the entire NCIS database again. Everything Eric and Nell had found out since he had left the other morning.

"As you can see there is no sign of him." Hetty said watching his eyes flick rapidly across nothing.

* * *

Callen got up and walked out into the empty space between the bullpen and Hetty's office. He stopped turned and stared into nothingness, or so it seemed to the five people watching, Granger had just entered and Eric and Nell were watching from above as Callen seemed to reach in front of him pick up a file and tossed it.

Nell looked on her tablet as a file entered her recycle bin.

Followed by a lot more.

Callen suddenly turned. "Hetty where are Kensi and Deeks?" he asked.

Hetty shook her head, "I don't know, we haven't heard from them since you went missing." She told him.

Callen turned to Eric, "Eric get me footage of the security camera's from outside Dr. Hurst's office."

Eric looked to Hetty who nodded and he turned expecting Callen to follow him up the stairs.

"It's ok Eric I'll do it from here." He walked through the empty space as Eric looked on his tablet to see the rendering of the outside of the office to change as Callen examined it on every angle.

"There…." Callen said pointing in thin air… "Eric look, the beat up dark blue van with the scratched out logo on the side."

Eric looked and gasped.

It was hard to see, but see it Callen had. Deeks and Kensi tied up and being manhandled into a van, four men in suits pointing guns at them, one gun perilously close to Kensi's head.

"I know him…." He said looking at the reflection of one man in particular, "Damn it!" he cursed.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Kort…Kort has them, he must have been activated as well as Michelle…Damn it Sam! I came here! It won't take Kort long to track me down."

Callen turned and ran to Hetty's desk. He wrote an address down and grabbed his bag and the envelope off the desk. "I can't stay, I've been hooked to the net…Kort is going to find me now."

He stopped, put the envelope in the bag.

"Mr. Callen, this is a secure facility, there is no way Mr. Kort will find you."

"But Hetty, you don't understand I've worked with Kort before, he will find me…he has found me…"

His voice dropped with a fear he couldn't name.

"Sam, save them all, Dan is with them, I need to leave Kort is coming here."

"Mr. Callen I can assured you that this location has not been compromised." Hetty said.

"But, Hetty, You don't understand….Kort…he's the same as me…he can do what I do, that's why we were partnered in the CIA, we thought the same way, I didn't understand till just now, Kort knows what he is, he knew what he was doing, with me it was instinct. Dan let me be a child for a long as he could, Kort was trained for this, he was older when he got his implant. He knew what it was. He's better than me Hetty and a killer." Callen grabbed his bag, looked at the others and turned to run for the door.

"Hello G. Callen." A British voice and a man standing in the doorway with one eye and a loaded gun in his hand stood in his way. "A funny thing brother, I got a kill order for your this morning, apparently your last kill order was ignored. So, what am I going to do with you?" he asked as Callen looked defeated, he sank down to his knees and put his hands behind his head.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Hetty gasped as Callen bowed his head looking defeated.

"NO!" Sam said taking a step forward but stopping as Kort let the safety off the gun and pointed it right at Callen's head.

"You'll only kill him sooner." Kort said as Callen turned his head and slightly shook it warning Sam off.

Sam looked scared for his friend, and then Callen gave a slight smile and Sam's phone vibrated.

"On your feet, brother." Kort ordered and Callen stood keeping his hands in sight as he stood up.

Kort smiled at the people watching him, "I'm not totally heartless junior, I will allow you to say goodbye, they can't chase you and they can't stop me, this has been sanctioned, your model was defective."

"Yeah 'coz you were always so superior old man." Callen snapped at Kort.

Kort pushed him towards the door, "Move it." He snapped back and turned to the others, "If you follow us I'll kill him."

Sam looked worried at Callen and his phone vibrated again as Kort and Callen left the building.

* * *

Sam took his phone out and looked at it, two unknown messages…he opened them up and turned to Hetty.

"It's from G." he said.

She came over and looked at the messages.

" **Sam, Don't worry, I'm going with Kort so I can get to Dan, Kensi and Deeks…will leave you clues, tell Eric to go to OPS. Will leave a marker. G."**

Sam looked at Hetty. "A Marker?" he asked.

"A trail or clue maybe?" Hetty surmised as they went up to OPS. "What does the second message say?" She asked.

Sam opened it, " **Hurry up, as soon as Kort gets to the car he will turn GPS off, the old guy has to be plugged in**."

Sam walked faster to Ops.

His phone went again….  **"Google Maps"**  the message said.

Eric looked up as Sam practically ran in the door. "Bring up the Google Map of the area." Sam ordered.

Eric looked behind Sam to Hetty who nodded in confirmation.

He pulled up the mission on the map and noticed a small blue dot, that was phasing in and out on the screen.

"What's that?" Eric asked.

Hetty smiled, "Mr. Callen." She said.

"He's fitting with a GPS?" Eric asked.

"Kinda…" Sam said with a smirk, "He IS the GPS."

Eric looked open mouthed as Sam watched the dot move.

"He's heading downtown.

"Sam, I'm coming with you." Owen said from the back of the room.

For once Sam just nodded grateful for the company and back up.

"The light's stopped; it's an old office complex downtown." Eric told them.

Sam's phone vibrated again and he looked at the message,  **"Stopped, have Eric shut down, Kort on line soon, go old school."**

"Shut all screens down and bring up the firewall you used for Callen." Sam ordered.

Eric moved quickly nodding at Nell to help him shut all the systems down, as he went to turn off the main screen Callen's light blinked out.

* * *

Callen squinted as the trunk of the car opened and Kort looked down at him holding a gun.

"I would have sat in the back." Callen said as the light flooded his face.

"What are you up to junior?" Kort asked.

"Nothing, Old man…Just resting on the ride." Callen baited him.

Kort took his gun, "They want to check you before we eradicate you, so get out."

"Who's they?" Callen asked.

Kort grabbed him by the shirt.

"Out!"

Callen tried to get up and he squirmed in Kort's grip, he fell out of the car landing on the concrete, "This would be easier with hands." He said.

"Walk…" Kort ordered.

Callen got to his feet, stumbled but walked forwards.

"We worked together Kort, I thought we were friends." Callen argued.

"Friends…." Kort laughed derisively, "Friends…you a kid was given my upgrade, you were damaged and broken an a kid, I had just been accepted to the CIA, I was going places, I was working the original implant, I was the bright star in the agency, then they bring in you…Seven years old, son of a CIA agent." Kort turned and slammed him into the wall, "I managed to sort out your sister, but not you, you got away…"

Callen winced as Kort dislocated his shoulder but never said a word, his eyes darkened at the knowledge that his sister had been murdered also.

* * *

"I'm gonna make Hurst rip out your chip and give it to me." Kort laughed as he opened a door to a room where Kensi, Deeks and Hurst were tied up to chairs.

Callen stumbled and fell to the floor.

"Callen?" Daniel said shocked.

"Dan…you ok?" he asked spitting out blood.

Daniel Hurst nodded, "I'm fine,"

"Kensi…Deeks….?" Callen asked, before they could answer, Kort kicked him in the ribs.

"SHUT UP!" he yelled. He paced the room and looked over at the doctor, "He's here…take it out and put it in me." Kort ordered as Kensi and Deeks looked at Kort confused.

"I can't…it'll kill him!" Hurst exclaimed.

"Do I look like I care, I've already lost an eye Hurst, I'm as alone as he is, I can't even get a woman not with this!" he pulled the side of his shirt up exposing an Ethernet connection, I need to be wireless, I need the upgrade! I should have gotten the upgrade first!" he ranted.

"You can't, you don't have the anomaly, and Callen is the only one left in his family with the genetic marker." Hurst argued, "That's why he was picked, his mother, his sister and him. That was it, you don't have it, and it'll kill you."

Kort cut the bindings holding Hurst to the chair, "Do it! Or I swear to God, you'll never see your family again!" Kort screamed.

Callen knelt up again, "Kort…please you don't wanna do this, he has a family…let him go." He pleaded.

Kort laughed, "You gonna operate on yourself Junior."

"Why do you call him that?" Deeks asked trying to get Korts attention.

"The kid's a 2.0, he's the ultimate human upgrade, it should have been mine, not his, I have a chip, but you don't get to keep yours." Kort said as he walked to a discarded desk and took a sterilized chip out of a box still sealed in a plastic bag.

"Where did you get that?" Kensi asked wondering what it was.

Callen closed his eyes as a tear flashed down his face and a few lights on the chip glowed. "Amy…" he breathed.

For a second Callen connected with the chip, the pinkish strands of color emitting from it beckoned to him.

* * *

He saw Amy's last memory, watching her little brother sleep as an older man told her they had to go.

He looked up through his sisters eyes, watching a younger version of Kort, with hair and two eyes, smiling at Amy.

"Come on kid, we have to run, it's not safe." Kort said.

"Uncle Trent? Why do we have to run, what about my baby brother?" she asked.

"I'll go back for him, you can tag him and keep him in your thoughts, he'll know when you are near." He advised her.

Amy nodded, "And Papa's really here?" she asked.

Kort smiled, "Yes, he found out what was going on, he sent me to rescue you."

They walked along the perimeter of the building, Amy could hear water, it had stormed and the water was rushing hard down the culvert.

"Uncle Trent, this isn't a safe way." Amy advised searching her databases.

"I know." Trent grabbed Amy by the throat, she screamed and struggle, her last thought being of her baby brother, hoping he'd be safe.

* * *

Callen couldn't hold back the tears that fell, he was distraught, and Kort had killed his sister, his last remaining family member, and had thrown her in the river. He hadn't seen that part, but he remembered Hannah Lawson saying that she'd been found battered, bruised and drowned. All evidence of Kort's crime had been eradicated.

Kensi and Deeks looked at their team leader, sitting on his knees on the floor, crying for no apparent reason.

"Callen get it together," Kensi snapped.

Callen shot a broken look at her, "Kens?" he croaked as if seeing her for the first time. He took a second and shook his head; he could grieve for Amy later.

Kort turned to him and grinned, "Don't worry; you'll join your big sister soon."

"Bastard!" Callen spat and pushed up with his foot, launching his head at Kort's chin.

Kort stumbled back with the force of the blow to his jaw, "Get off me." He snapped. He grabbed a needle and injected Callen in the neck.

"Callen!" Kensi called as he fell back onto the floor and as he closed his eyes a loud crash came from behind him.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Sam and Granger entered the room as Callen went down.

Sam shot at Kort who fell back with a bullet wound to the shoulder, three other men came out of a back room and started firing, and the two largest people grabbed Callen by the feet and tried dragging him away to the back room.

Deeks knocked Kensi and Dan to the floor putting him between them and the bullets.

"Stay down!" he said, and winced as a bullet hit him in the shoulder.

"Deeks!" Kensi called worried.

"I'm fine, stay down." He reiterated.

"No you don't!" Sam yelled shooting the men who were trying to take Callen away.

The third man tried to get Kort but he was shot in the head by a stray bullet and Granger shot the third man. As soon as the shooting stopped, Sam called Eric; "We need an ambulance!" he said and looked down at Callen. "G…G!...Come on man wake up." He said looking worriedly over at Kensi and Deeks to make sure that they were ok.

* * *

"Untie me." Daniel said, "I need to make sure G is alright…please." He said.

Sam nodded and moved to cut his and the others bonds, "Can you help him?" Sam asked worriedly as Daniel stood up.

Callen's eyes shot open and he sat staring into space.

"G?" Sam said and the turned to look at him.

"Damn." Daniel cursed, "I need my tablet, and it's in my bag."

Deeks ran over and fished it out, "What's wrong with him?" he asked.

"He needs a system restore," Daniel said not looking at the man, "There is also a first aid kit in there," he turned and looked at Deeks, "G can wait for a few minutes, but you're bleeding, let me help."

"Callen can wait? he's like a Zombie, sitting up catatonic!" Deeks exclaimed, "What the heck is wrong with him?"

"Kort's injected him with a virus; he's probably just shut down his external stimulus to fight it." Daniel said opening a gauze pad and placing it on Deeks' wound.

Sam stepped over Kort's body, he smiled grimly at the fact that he and the other four men were dead; Kensi went over to them and checked their ID, "They're Russians." She said looking at a driver's license.

She took their pictures and names from their IDs, sent them to Eric for processing, and stood up as the paramedics turned up.

Granger secured the scene with Kensi and arranged for Deeks to head to the hospital as a medic walked over to Callen. "Is he hurt?" the medic asked putting his bag down.

The medic flashed a light in his eyes and Callen flinched and moved away.

"Don't…" Daniel warned, "Like this he's autistic, the light will set him off." He said moving between them, "I'm his personal doctor, I'll be dealing with him, I will need a room to treat him and he'll need a recovery room,"

The medic nodded, living in Los Angeles many people had private doctors, "Which hospital?" he asked.

"Cedar Sinai, Tell them it's Dr. Hurst's priority patient, they'll clear the way for us."

The medic moved to do as he was asked.

* * *

Callen moved just once during the whole exchange to grab Sam's hand as he went to steady his friend, but he did not let go.

"G?" Sam said crouching down near him, "Can you hear me?"

Callen didn't move but a tear escaped and ran down his face.

In truth Callen could hear him….He could hear everything but he couldn't move, if he could have he'd have been cowering under the table with his head over his ears, all he could see was a wash of bright colors.

He didn't know what Kort had injected him with but he could feel everything, it was all just too much.

He could hear Amy repeatedly telling him to fight it, to stay strong, he could hear Sam calling his name and then suddenly he felt his hand and he grasped it like a lifeline.

His world was awash with color and sound and when a pair of hands tried to move him, he fought it with all his strength.

"G…G! Stop! It's us; we are trying to help you." Sam's voice made it through and he stopped fighting. He let the hands push him back and hoped it wasn't all in his head.

Sam looked back at Callen laying with his eyes open staring at the ceiling on the gurney, He gave a sigh of relief when Callen finally stopped fighting and relaxed.

* * *

Hetty was waiting when they arrived at the hospital; she saw Deeks first and went to sign off on his paperwork as he was taken to ER to have his shoulder assessed for surgery.

Deeks smiled at her as she sat there worried, "I'm going to go down for surgery soon, go check on Callen and take Kensi with you, please…before she kills someone." He quipped looking at Kensi glaring at everyone who walked by his room.

"I will Mr. Deeks, you rest, you'll be back before you know it." She said supportively.

Deeks smiled, "At least this time Sam won't have to plot out new routes to work for me, sucks it's the same shoulder though." He lamented.

Hetty smiled as the anesthesiologist came in with his pro-op medication. "Rest now Mr. Deeks. We will be here when you wake up." She said and left looking for Kensi.

Sam paced up and down next to the gurney that Callen had sat up on again and was staring into space as Hetty and Kensi arrived.

"How is he?" Hetty asked Sam as Callen stared right through her. Sam felt his hand tighten on him and he took a blanket and put it over his head, trying to block out the stimuli he was being bombarded with.

"I don't know, there was supposed to be a private room set up, but the nurse on the desk is insisting that he get either moved to a secure ward or that he's 'safe' enough to go onto a general ward.

Hetty sighed and looked over to where Daniel Hurst was arguing with the admissions nurse.

She walked up behind him and the nurse stopped and looked at the smaller woman.

"Ms Lange?" she said surprised.

"I hear you are putting one of my agents in danger by putting him on a general ward or are planning on locking him up in a secure unit?" she snapped.

"I…I…." the nurse stammered. Over the years Hetty Lange had become the stuff of legends in the hospital when each of her agents ended up in here they all knew to do what she said. But this…this couldn't be one of her agents the doctor had said that the man was suffering from Autistic tendencies and needed to be segregated, as he needed quiet. However, they'd had a bus crash that morning and the ER's were full, she looked over at the man on the gurney, with a blanket on his head, who was rocking gently and holding tight to the larger man's hand who was leaning over and talking softly to him.

"There is no way that man is a federal agent," she snapped, the 48 hours she'd already worked coming back on her in full force.

* * *

The hospital administrator walked towards them and stopped as he saw Hetty Lange. "Henrietta, I heard about your agents, Mr. Deeks is in surgery and I hear Mr. Callen has his personal doctor with him again?"

"Dr. Daniel Hurst, Mr. Callen's doctor. I'm trying to get him admitted." He said.

"Is there a problem?" The administrator asked.

"Mr. Callen needs a private room to be treated and this….this woman wants him committed, he's not crazy he's been injured and as you know Callen is a special case no one but myself treats him." Dr. Hurst said.

"Of course, Kathleen, why didn't you give Dr. Hurst a room for his patient?"

"We don't have one spare, we had an emergency a bus crash, I don't have a room spare for him." She said pointing in Callen's direction.

Suddenly as if to illustrate her point an alarm blared further down the hall, for Callen the sudden burst of sound and color hurt and he whimpered.

Sam held his hand as Kensi whispered to him to help calm him down.

"Right now I don't even care if you put him in the morgue; he needs to be out of here."

The administrator took the computer and looked through, "We have a room, it's empty and scheduled for maintenance, but if you don't mind, then you can use it. I'll have a bed placed there; you may have to wait until morning for theatre time if you need it due to the crash."

Dr. Hurst nodded, "That'll be fine." He said taking one end of the gurney, "its ok G we're taking you somewhere quiet."

He pushed the gurney down the hall and stopped at the room, "We were using it for storage," the administrator said as they looked at the nameplate on the door that said Janitors closet.

Daniel opened the door and looked inside, "That's fine…" he pushed the gurney inside and then for Callen the sound was dulled.

He looked inside the room, there were big thick walls and an empty booth off to one side.

"This was an X-ray room?" he asked.

"Yes, I know it's not much but we can have him moved as soon as we can."

Callen gave a relieved sigh, and collapsed back onto the gurney, he didn't know where he was but the colors and sounds were muted and for that he was grateful.

"This is so perfect. Thank you." Daniel said to the administrator, "Lead lined walls?" he asked.

"Yes, I hope that won't interfere with your equipment?" the administrator said.

"No, in fact this room is perfect for what I have to do, I won't need a theatre after all."

The administrator nodded and left the group to it.

The other three looked at Daniel confused.

"The lead in the walls blocks out all electrical stimuli and interference. Callen can finally rest while I reboot him."

Dr. Hurst pulled out his laptop from his bag and pulled up a file, Hetty moved to watch over his shoulder.

"What is that?" she asked.

"That is Callen's program, the factory settings for his chip and a really, really good antivirus program created by an ex-hacker, I brought it from him a few years ago, perfect for incase Callen's chip got infected."

"Do you trust this hacker, not to have built any viruses into his program?"

"I trust him as much as you do Henrietta, it was designed by Eric Beale." He smiled as the other two looked shocked.

He plugged a grey pad into the laptop and put it under Callen's hand.

The pad lit up and the computer whirred.

"Now we wait as Callen uploads the antivirus, with it being so close to him, he'll search it out and hopefully recognize that it is there to help him."

Sam moved over to the chair in the corner, Kensi sat on the floor offering Hetty the only other chair.

Hetty looked at her agents, "I'm sure Mr. Callen and Mr. Deeks will be awake soon and driving us both crazy in their attempts to get out of hospital, right now I think we should conserve our energies." She said and settled back into the chair, Meditating.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Hours went by.

Callen lay on the gurney tossing and moaning every once in a while.

Sam stood at parade rest not moving watching over his friend. Kensi had headed upstairs, to stay with Deeks as he'd come out of surgery three hours before and Hetty was sat in the chair, looking over at Dr. Hurst as he ran different algorithms on the laptop he'd brought.

Every once in a while Sam would look at the others but he remained solidly at Callen's side.

"NO!" Callen shot up and sat upright and then turned and vomited into a bowl that Daniel quickly placed under his chin.

"It's ok G, the worst is over." Daniel said.

Callen looked at him, "Dan?" he asked.

Daniel smiled, "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Tired, foggy…? I'm…not…where the heck am I?" he asked looking around.

Daniel gave a small smile and laughed, "Cedars-Sinai…and old X-ray suite." He said.

"Is that why it's so dark in here?" he asked.

Sam looked worried the lights were on; he had been worried it was too bright for when Callen woke up. "G?" he asked hoping he wasn't blind, to be honest he had no idea why he would be blind, but dark?

"Dark?" Hetty asked.

"Everything is fuzzy. The colors are muted and …the walls? Lead lined?" he asked.

Daniel nodded. "I need to test you, are you up to it yet?" he asked.

Callen rubbed his eyes and sat cross legged on the gurney, "I dunno…." He said giving Daniel a smirk.

Daniel smiled back, "I went to the hospital shop while you were rebooting, and I got some."

"Well…Don't just stand there hand them over Doc!" Callen held his hand out and Daniel pulled a tootsie pop from his bag and held it out.

"You know the deal…." Daniel held the encryption out with one hand holding the candy at arm's length.

Callen sighed and picked up the piece of paper and a pencil and started writing.

Sam moved to look and Callen handed the paper to Dan. "Done!" he grinned and Daniel handed him a tootsie pop. Callen unwrapped it, popped it in his mouth and closed his eyes in pleasure.

Sam laughed "You look happy G?" he said.

Callen grinned "I am happy." He affirmed.

He lay back sucking on the candy and sighed. Thinking back to what had happened he noticed a few blocks of time missing, and started searching through his files for the parts where the holes were.

He sat up again and looked at Dan, "You were kidnapped, by Kort?" he asked. Hetty looked worried at him but said nothing, Callen waited for a few moments as he went back over what had happened. His face fell and he looked at both Hetty and Daniel, "This isn't natural is it?" he asked. Both Hetty and Daniel looked at him but said nothing, "I'm a freak…they were right I really am a freak…and …the CIA wanted me dead?"

He looked broken and Hetty moved towards him, but he moved back, "No…Why? Why would you do this to a child, to me…to…to Amy?" he asked.

Hetty took a chair and moved it closer to the gurney.

* * *

"Mr. Callen, in 1977, the internet was making leaps and bounds, those of us in the know, myself…Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and a few others had the vision of foresight as to what the internet could become, the power and the information flowing freely. A group of us, working with the CIA realized that a new prototype of wireless chip would be easier to use in conjunction with the human brain. In the late 1960's we'd asked for volunteers, your mother offered her services to the project and was one of the best candidates we had. She had a genetic mutation, a small anomaly which meant that she would have been able to integrate and tolerate the chip easier than other people. However shortly before her commencement on the program she took a mission to Russia and she disappeared. Trent Kort was second on our list a new agent and he'd past all the evaluations for the experiment, so he was fitted with the prototype. By early 1976 the upgrade was ready, it was years ahead of its time, but we didn't have a subject to put it in. Then I heard about you. You and your sister had been smuggled back into the US after the incident on the beach; we had been told not to…I'm sorry we were told not to rescue your mother or both of you. The powers that be thought that she had gone rogue, she had been sent to Russia and turned up in Romania 9 years later with two children in tow." Hetty paused to let Callen absorb the data. He nodded and she continued.

"Your sister was chosen to be the first upgrade, you were…Hurt, in the escape from Romania and we were not sure if it would work for you."

"Did she know…Amy, did she know what you were going to do to her?" Callen asked.

Hetty nodded, "We had planned to reunite you both, and she agreed to have the implant as long as someone nice could adopt you both."

"Did she? Did she ever tell you my name?" he asked.

Hetty shook her head, "I think she blocked it out when your mother was killed."

Callen sighed, but waited, "We after the operation, the implant was a success. She tested right out of the ball park and was looking forward to being adopted with you, a few days before we were going to pick you up, she disappeared, there was an accident, and she drowned." Hetty told him.

Callen shook his head, "She was murdered, Kort took her, he strangled her and pushed her into the river, her last thoughts were of...me." He told her, his voice cracking at the end of the sentence.

Sam looked over at Callen who hadn't taken his eyes off of Hetty.

Hetty looked close to tears on this news, but continued, "We needed this implant and it was decided that you should be given the implant, you were the only one left with the genetic mutation that meant the implant would work with your anatomy also…you had an…anomaly. You had hit your head during the escape and had slight brain damage, you were hyperactive and had high functioning Aspergers, You wouldn't make eye contact with anyone and fidgeted a lot. The part of your brain that had been injured was where we needed to place the chip, it…for want of a better word, upgraded you. But Daniel was determined that you should grow up as a kid, without the knowledge of what you were."

"Why…? Why did he get to make that choice?" Callen asked slightly annoyed.

* * *

"Emma and I were going to be your adoptive parents, it was approved but the CIA overruled it, so we kept in contact as best as we could."

Callen looked stunned, "You wanted to adopt…Me?" he asked.

Daniel nodded, "You and Amy, we loved you both, but after Amy's…what we thought was a malfunction, the CIA wanted to keep you mobile and away from any attachments."

"So, I grew up in care…going through all that because of the CIA?" Callen was angry, but he knew he would deal with it later, filing the information for him to deal with when he was alone.

Daniel sat next to him on the gurney, "G, we always wanted you to be a part of our family, with or without the chip, Jessie is my daughter, but you and Amy were just as much our children."

"You? You left the card on Amy's grave?" Callen said.

"Yes G, we did. We leave flowers every year for her birthday."

Callen smiled softly. "Thank you, thank you for not forgetting her."

"I didn't forget you either, I followed you through your different foster homes, moved heaven and earth to get you to moved to safer places."

Callen looked at him and smiled again, "Thank you." He said quietly.

Daniel laughed, "So you see when you call Emma mom, you really aren't that far from the truth."

Callen looked up, "Where are they?" he asked.

"Who?" Sam asked.

"Emma and Jessie, I mean, they should have been told by now that I'm here and that you're with me, if it were me…I'd have wanted to check on you to make sure you were ok."

"He has a point, let me call Owen and see where they are." Hetty said.

She stepped outside to make her call as Callen looked at Sam, "I'll keep an eye on her." Sam said and left the room.

"I'm sorry Callen, I'm sorry I didn't push harder to make the CIA change their minds, I fought for you as much as I could, but I couldn't get them to realize I wanted you as a son not an asset." Daniel said.

Callen choked up, after all these years to realize that he could have had a normal home and family, he had been so close.

Daniel wrapped his arms around Callen and held him in a hug, "Thanks…dad." Callen said softly.

They moved apart as Hetty and Sam walked in looking grim.

"Owen was ambushed on his way to the hospital; Emma and Jessica were taken by a group of armed men."

 


	8. Chapter 8

Owen walked into the main room at the boatshed where Jessie was sitting on the couch with Emma drinking tea and worrying for Daniel and Callen.

"Is there any news?" Emma asked as Owen walked in.

"Yes Dr. Hurst was found safe and well, he's heading to Cedars-Sinai right now." He said.

"Why is he heading to the hospital if he's safe and well?" Jessie asked.

"Detective Deeks and Agent Callen were hurt in your father's rescue." He said.

"G's hurt?!" Jessie's hands flew to her mouth in shock and she turned to hold her mother's hand.

Emma stood up and turned to Owen, "Take me to my son." She ordered him.

He did a double take, "Excuse me?"

"G. Callen is the nearest thing I have to a son, if it were not for a bureaucrat at the CIA he would be my son." She told him, "Now…Mr. Granger, either take me to my boy or get the hell out of my way." And in a move that belied all her years, she pushed past him and headed to the door, Jessie close on her heels.

For a second Granger stood in shock and then he grabbed his keys and followed, after being pushed around by her he realized that he did not want to get on her bad side.

They climbed into the car, Granger holding the door for both women and they set off.

Halfway there they saw a detour sign and Granger followed it. He pulled up short when he noticed a large van blocking the road. He reached over to get his spare gun out of the glove compartment.

"What's wrong?" Emma asked.

"I'm not sure, maybe nothing…but…" he stopped as a car rammed them from behind. "Are you ok?" he asked looking worried at the two women.

They both nodded.

He undid the safety belt, to see what had happened and they were hit again, his head hit the steering wheel and then he blacked out.

When he came too, both women were gone.

"Where were they?" Callen's voice cut through the tension in the room.

"West Pico Boulevard, a fake detour sign sent them into a trap."

"Urgh!" Callen snapped, "I can't see a thing, I need to get out of this room!" he exclaimed.

"I'll get you a wheelchair." Sam said ignoring the look that Callen gave him.

"I can walk Sam." He snapped.

"Go on then!" Sam challenged him.

Callen stood up and took two steps and started to sink to his knees as Sam caught him. "Look, G…you've been through a lot and can't move right now, let me get you the chair, where do you need to go?"

Callen looked at Daniel, "I think just outside?" he said.

Sam nodded and went to get a wheelchair for Callen.

They headed outside as Granger turned up a large bandage on his head.

"Callen…Dr. Hurst I'm sorry." He said looking at them both.

Callen glared at him and nudged Sam to move him out of the corridor. "I need to be outside."

"Callen, I have asked Eric to look on traffic cams for them." Granger said.

"I'm faster." Callen snapped and saw an empty room, in there Sam, that'll do."

Sam pushed him into the room and Callen stood up, carefully.

He searched through the camera footage and sat back down in the chair as he watched the accident, his hand moving to cover his mouth shocked at what he saw.

Granger was laying face down blood trickling from the wound on his forehead. He watched as six men all crowded around the car pulling Emma and Jessie out at gunpoint and putting them in a van.

He stood up and took the scene apart in his mind, "Get Eric to trace the license plate," he said, he moved his hand moving the license plate to a file, "It's in a file with his name on it." He said.

Sam nodded and called Eric filling him in.

Callen took note of the people, reconstructing facial features and looking for anything that would help.

"Sam!" Callen stopped and refocused on the room to see Hetty, Granger, Sam and Daniel staring at him, "They were taken by some Russians." He told them.

"How do you know?" Granger asked.

"I ran a facial recognition on them, oh!" Callen stopped and turned… "There you are?" he said looking into space again and grinning.

"Emma and Jessie are fine." He smiled, "They are still hostages, but…well…Moms going all Mom on the guys." His smile turned into a full on grin as he focused on Daniel, "Christmas '82" he said cryptically.

"Oh my God, those poor men." Daniel grinned. "Do you know where she is then?"

Callen nodded, "Yeah, Sam…They've been taken to an old theater downtown, the footage I'm getting is from an office across the road, we've gotta save them." He said.

"I thought you said they were holding their own?" Sam asked concerned.

"Emma and Jessie are…it's the Russians we need to save." Callen lied, he hoped this would put Daniel's mind at rest until they could get them back, he turned and headed for the car park, "Where's your car?" he asked.

Sam smiled, "Can't you find it?" he asked.

Callen shook his head.

Sam smiled, "I disabled the GPS. It's around back." He turned to Hetty; we'll bring them back to the boatshed, tell Kensi to keep Deeks alive and entertained till we get back.

Callen laughed, "She's gonna love you for that." He joked.

Hetty smiled watching Callen and Sam banter as they headed out, just like old times, she thought.

Callen got to the car and climbed in closing his eyes for a second as Sam walked around to the driver's side and got in. "You ok G?" he asked concerned.

"I'm fine, start driving Sam, address is in the Sat. Nav." He closed his eyes determined to conserve his energy and not let Sam know how much being out in the light and color was hurting him right now.

* * *

They pulled up outside The Tower theatre on south Broadway and West 8th street and went around the side, past the baroque exterior to the rear of the building.

Callen stopped and put up a hand, stopping Sam in his tracks. "What?" Sam asked.

"They're making a call," He watched as the lines he could see left the building floated around him and headed towards a phone mast, "International." He clarified. He closed his eyes and focused on the phone in question. He picked up the tail end of the call, both men speaking in Russian and he smiled.

"They have no idea we're here, the CIA are not chasing me, not yet, Kort lied, he sent the message to Michelle, but can you text her, get her to check they don't have a kill order out on me. The text Hetty got was a fake too."

Sam looked at him, "Are you sure?"

Callen just cocked an eyebrow at him as if he were crazy and started walking. "There are four guys in the building, with foreign cell phones. M… Emma doesn't have a cell phone, but Amy still has hers." He said.

"Ok so what do you want to do?" Sam asked.

"Hang on, I'm jamming their cell phones and sending a text to the guy who just made the call, telling him that I've been spotted nearby. Quick over here." He moved to an alcove at the side of the building and waited as three of the four guys left the building.

Sam's phone vibrated and he took the call, "Hanna…ok, yeah we're at 8th and Broadway. Get here fast."

Sam turned to Callen, "That was Granger, he and Nell are coming as backup."

Callen nodded and turned pulling out his gun, "We need to go in now." He said.

"G, ya gotta wait for back up, Granger is coming, and they are minutes behind…" he stopped as a scream came from the building they were watching.

"Sorry, Sam, you wait, I'm going in, and I can't have anyone hurt them." He turned and ran for the door.

"G? G!...Damn!" Sam swore and ran after him.

Running to the building Callen stopped at the security system, Sam hot on his heels. He didn't have time to be subtle like he had in the past. He placed his hand over the system and the keypad sparked and blew up.

"Damn!" Sam exclaimed from behind him.

Callen smirked and opened the door, "Come on." He said and went in.

He took point moving up the stairs, stopping as he saw the emissions from their cell phones get closer.

"I swear to God, you come near me with that thing again and as soon as I'm loose I'm gonna gut you!" Jessie snarled at the guy holding them hostage.

Callen kicked the door and the man standing behind it fell to the ground, "Federal agents." He yelled swaying a little as he pointed his gun at the man.

Sam grabbed a couple of zip ties from his pocket and subdued the man. "Where are the others?"

"Outside looking for someone called Callen."

Callen smirked, "Let em keep looking…" he turned to the two women, "You ok?" he asked Jessie as he untied her.

"Yeah he threatened my baby….Asshole!" she snapped as she walked over and kicked him.

"Calm down Jess!" Callen said moving her away, "It's not good for the baby."

He turned as Sam cut the ties from Emma's wrists. "Mom?" he said, "Emma, are you ok?"

She walked over and grabbed him in a hug, "I'm fine son, a little shaken but unhurt, what about you?"

"Been better," he admitted, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't lie to her.

"We need to get out of here G." Sam said.

"OK, him?" Callen asked pointing to the guy on the floor.

"We'll take him with us," Sam lifted him back onto his feet, "And you will be quiet, or we'll make you permanently quiet, got it?"

The man nodded and followed with Sam and his gun behind him.

"This way," Callen said turning left and heading back towards the door they came in.

He turned a corner and stopped, putting his hands up as he came face to face with the three other men.

"I suggest Agent Callen; you have your friends let my man go." The leader of the group said.

"Let them go." Callen said looking at Emma and Jessie, "She's an old woman and the other is pregnant, they aren't going to help you at all."

The man looked at him, "If I let them go, you will not co-operate, however, in the interests of fair play I will let you pick one."

Callen looked at the two of them, "Jessie…you go dear." Emma said, "Protect the baby."

"Mom!" Jessie looked distraught, "Go…but she'll need someone with her." She said not wanting any harm to come to her daughter.

"You…"the Russian waved his gun in the direction of Sam, "Let my man go and go with the woman,"

"Not gonna happen," Sam snarled still pointing his gun in the Russian's direction.

"Please Sam." Callen said turning to him, "Keep Jessie safe."

Sam nodded and holstered his gun, his phone vibrated again and he hoped that it meant that Callen had sent him another text, "Come on Jessie." He said and helped her to the door.

* * *

Callen turned back to the Russian, "So Stan, I'm going to go with you, why don't you let Emma go too?" he reasoned.

"I owe you freak," Stannislav Vocovich sneered at Callen, "You destroyed my life, it has taken me years to be able to get my revenge on you." Stan watched as his men tied Emma and Callen to a couple of nearby chairs.

"I did nothing." Callen snapped, "I wasn't responsible for what your father did or for his death."

"Not directly, but you and your freakish behavior made my life hell, I lost my home, my mom lost her job…we had to move back east and I worked hard to get a head, then I get a post in the CIA, after changing my name. Then I hear about you and how you were part of a special project. I had no chance."

"G, do you know him?" Emma asked.

Callen nodded… "We've met." He said flatly.

"My name is Stan Parker Ma'am, I'm with the CIA, and I'm here to take G. Callen into custody for the theft of government property."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Emma exclaimed.

"No Ma'am."

"And the CIA makes it a habit of suddenly operating on US soil and kidnapping an old woman and a pregnant woman?" she said stunned.

"Protective custody Ma'am." Stan said looking all the world like he was a run of the mill CIA agent. "Agent Callen is a threat to National security."

Callen moved and Stan raised his gun to Emma's head, "Although if he tries anything Ma'am your custody will be anything but protective."

"Please…" Callen said before he could stop himself.

"She mean something to you freak?!" Stan asked.

"She's innocent in all this, let her go." Callen argued.

Stan sat on a chair and twirled a gun in his hand. "I don't think so."

Callen shot a look at Emma who shook her head slightly.

"What is she to you?" Stan asked, "I know you don't have any family, you're a freak…freaks don't have anyone to care for them."

"STOP IT!" Emma snapped, "He's not a freak, stop using that word."

Callen clenched his fists not saying a word.

Stan walked over and grabbed Emma by the hair and yanked her head back. "She seems to be worried about you?" he looked between the two of them, noting the worried glances between the pair.

"What do you hope to gain from this now Stannislav?" Callen asked.

"I hope to trade you G. Callen, you see you made a mistake earlier, you said my father was dead…he's not, he's very much alive and my mother wants to see him again. I spent years working for the CIA, I found out all this information about you and you will get me what I want."

"How? I can't get your father back for you." Callen said.

"The Russian government will pay handsomely for what is inside your head." Stan admitted.

"I'd like it to stay inside my head." Callen said sarcastically.

"I can arrange that, it doesn't have to be on your body…" Stan sneered.

"NO!" Emma screamed.

Stan yanked her head back, "I can arrange the same for you." He snapped at her.

"NO!" Callen yelled.

Stan put his gun to her temple; he turned the gun around and cracked her on the head with the butt of the gun.

"MOM!" Callen yelled struggling against his bonds.

"Mom?" Stan asked a weird smile covering his face, "She's your mother?"

"No…My mother is dead." Callen said, "I don't know why I said that."

"You hurt my mother, you and your freakish ways, I hope she wakes up soon, I'm going to hurt your mother as much as you hurt mine."

"I didn't hurt your mother." Callen argued.

"Oh but you did, she had to move and she lost her job…she died from a broken heart all because one freak of a kid couldn't keep his mouth shut."

Callen looked up at Stan and remembered the hurt child he'd wronged all those years ago, he had known that saying aloud about his father was wrong, and now Emma was paying the price for his childishness.

"Please, Stan…let her go, she was just my foster mother once, you were right remember, I've got no one."

Stan smiled and walked over punching Callen in the face, "You're right Callen, you've got no one, and no one is going to save you, you are going to come with me and you are going to save my father and I am going to watch and laugh as the Russians cut the chip out of your wide awake screaming body."

Callen shivered at the callousness in his voice and hoped that Sam would be able to find Granger and Nell and get Jessie to safety soon.

Stan hauled Callen to his feet, "Come on…we have a plane to catch."

"We can't leave, she's hurt, she needs medical attention!" Callen said looking at Emma who was still unconscious.

"Well, maybe by the time your friends get here…." Stan stopped as he checked her pulse. "Or maybe not…she's already dead Callen, you've killed someone else with your freakish ways," he lied.

Callen looked totally distraught, "Mom?" he tried to get closer to her to check.

Stan smiled, "You killed her, don't think your friend Jessie is going to like you anymore, you got her mother killed."

He turned to the other two men there, "Get him into the crate and out of here."

The men turned him and Stan hit him around the back of the head with his gun butt. Callen groaned and dropped to the floor.

Semi conscious Stan leaned over him as his men put him in the crate. "You killed her Callen, you're a murderer, did you kill your birth mother too?" he grinned as he put the lid on the crate and nailed it down.

A part of Callen heard that remark and as he slipped into unconsciousness, his mind replayed the shooting of his mother in his head, and mixed it until he was seeing Emma being shot in the head over and over again.

'Your fault, your fault, your fault.' Went around and around in his brain until he sank lower and soon, blissfully he sank into full unconsciousness.

 


	9. Chapter 9

Stannislav laughed as he realized he had won. He looked at the woman who was unconscious in her chair as one of his men walked up.

"The van has arrived." He said.

Stan nodded. "Take the package down and get it sent to LAX, it is going to Moscow by air freight." He said and stepped aside as they took the crate with Callen's body in it down to the van.

"Boss?" The man in the van asked, "Won't he die if he's in the hold of an airplane? It's gonna get pretty cold on the flight to Moscow in the hold of a jet." He told him.

Stannislav laughed. "They want what's in his head, I don't think they care if he's alive or not." He said and shut the door to the van as it drove off.

He turned and walked back into the building.

* * *

Granger and Nell caught up with Sam and Jessie as they had left the building, Granger had wanted Sam to stay with Nell, to stake out the building but Jessie doubled up in pain, "What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"I think I'm having contractions," Jessie was worried, if she had her son now he'd be viable but far too early.

Sam remembered he had promised to keep her safe, "I'm taking you to the hospital." He said.

"I'll take her Hanna; you go in with Jones and clear the building." He said as a dark brown UPS van passed him, a wheel bumping into a pothole and spraying Granger with dirty water. "What!"

Sam suppressed a smile and turned his attention back to Jessie. "Come on, we'll take my car, Granger, Callen and Emma are still in there, you get them out, let G know I'm taking good care of his sister."

He turned and headed back to the car with Jessie clinging onto his arm.

Nell and Granger entered the building Granger taking point and heading up to the room where they heard voices.

"The package is on its way to you, I am clearing up here and then I'll get back to you." Stan put his phone in his pocket and headed to where Emma was slowly coming around in her chair.

"G?" she called weakly.

"He left, he doesn't care what happens to you, and he said I could do as I wanted with you, he didn't care." Stan snarled.

"You're lying, he wouldn't leave me!" Emma said looking around.

"Do you see him?" Stan laughed, "No, because he left, he's had enough of you all playing with his life and he just ran out without looking back at you."

Emma looked down sadly, she didn't want to believe it, but running was something that Callen did well, also she had betrayed him, by not telling him about the chip in the first place. She had failed him.

"I'm sorry," She sobbed softly as Stan walked out of the room smiling.

Stan's smile was soon wiped off his face as he turned the corner to find a small redhead holding a gun, "Federal Agent, throw down your weapons." Nell said.

Stan knew he was dead if he made a move, and it didn't really matter anyway, the prize was on its way out of the country and his father would soon be freed.

"Fine," Stan threw his guns to the floor having looked further down the corridor to find the only other person left in the building had been subdued as well.

Nell cuffed him and looked up at Granger, "That's all of them, where's G and Emma?" she asked.

"No sign yet." Granger said and walked past her into the room that Stannislav had just walked out of.

"Nell?!" Granger called. "We need a paramedic, Mrs. Hurst is injured." He said looking at the open cut on the back of her head.

* * *

Granger slammed a folder down in the boatshed Stannislav stared dispassionately at him, "Where is Agent Callen?" Granger asked as he sat down opposite him.

Stannislav shrugged, "Who knows." He said honestly.

"You do, you were the last one to see him…you know where he is, we can make things easier on you if you tell us where he is." Granger snapped.

Kensi walked into the boatshed, Hetty had offered to sit with Deeks for a while and she was using her break to find out what was going on and fill Deeks in on her return.

"What's going on?" she asked as she walked in.

Nell smiled at her in welcome and turned to the screen, "Stannislav Vocovitch he was born in Russia, educated in the US, his mother fled to the US after his father was captured by the KGB and sentence to Black Dolphin prison. Changed his name to Stan Parker and joined the CIA."

"So he's a company guy?" Kensi asked. "Why's he after Callen, was he part of the kill order?"

Nell shook her head, "The kill order from the CIA was fake, they had decided to abandon the project, without activating Callen, They assumed as he was already working for a federal agency there was no need to activate him as an asset, apparently the one they had been working with was such a liability that they didn't want to risk activating the second one. Stan Parker joined the CIA right out of university, he had a single minded determination and he asked about Callen a few times, but kept his head down."

Kensi looked at the information on the screen, "So why did he set this up? Was it just to get his father out of prison?" she asked.

Nell looked at the screen where Granger was staring at Stannislav, "I don't think so, I mean I know I'm not in the field as often as you guys, but my gut say that Stan…and Callen…I mean they are the same age…I ran a background check on Callen and they were both at the same High school in '85."

"So they knew each other, maybe Stan let Callen go? Were they friends?" Kensi asked.

Nell stood up and walked towards the interrogation room, "I don't know, but I'm going to find out."

She opened the door and Stannislav looked up, "Nice." He leered.

Granger looked up at her, "Miss Jones?"

"I want to ask a question." She said and Granger leaned back giving her permission, "I've been going through your file, both you and Callen attended the same high school for a while, the file says you were friends is that why you let him go?"

Stannislav laughed, "Friends, me and the freak! Never…I hated his guts, and right now he should be dead…if not now then soon and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Why's that?" Nell asked in her sweetest voice.

Stannislav smiled, "Because right now he's suffocating to death in a hold of an airplane bound for Russia, and you guys don't have the pull to stop an airplane in mid-flight."

Granger stood up and leaned towards him menacingly.

"WHICH FLIGHT?" he yelled.

"13.15 from LAX to Moscow." Stan said shaking.

Nell left the room Granger hot on her heels.

"Can we stop the flight?" Granger asked.

Nell pulled up some information on her tablet and paled. "He's been in the air for three hours…I don't know if we can ground the plane or bring it back before he dies." Her hands shook as she placed the tablet on the table

"Eric? Can you ground a plane enroute to Moscow from LAX took off at 13.15?" she asked.

Eric on screen shook his head, "I don't have the clearance." He said worried, "I'll call Hetty,"

"Don't worry I'm already on the phone with her." Granger said in the background. "And get Sam to meet us at the airport." He said into his phone.

He closed it and turned to the two women. "Hetty will contact air traffic control and get the plane turned around and back to LAX, we will be meeting it with an ambulance."

He turned and walked back into interrogation, not stopping he picked Stannislav up and slammed him into a wall, "Where is he on the plane?" he growled menacingly.

"He's in a crate, marked UPS. The ticket on the side says 'Freak'." Stannislav grinned at his own joke, "It should have said dead freak."

Granger dropped him to the ground and walked out nodding to the agent who was standing in the hallway. "If he so much as breathes wrong….shoot him!" Granger snarled and walked out to Kensi and Nell.

* * *

Sam pulled up outside the cargo area of LAX in the challenger, flashed his badge at the security guard and was told to follow the ambulance that had entered ahead of him. Worriedly he did so and pulled up next to Granger and Kensi's cars.

"What's going on Where's G?" he asked.

"You haven't been briefed?" Granger asked.

"I was with Jessie and her parents, they've stopped the labor and put her on bed rest, I was told to come here by Hetty she said you'd fill me in where's G?" he asked again.

Granger pointed to a large Russian Aeroflot plane that was coming in for a landing.

Sam looked at him, "He's run away again?" he asked. "Emma said he'd gone but I didn't believe her," he looked angry at Granger, "Hetty have the plane turned around to bring him back then?"

Granger looked mad at Sam, "Agent Callen was incapacitated and loaded into a wooden crate, and stuffed in the hold of that plane, it's been in the air for six hours, having turned around just before the halfway point to get Agent Callen back here for medical treatment that is if he's still alive."

Sam paled, "No?" he looked at Nell, "Is there any way you can tell if he's alive, what about that chip of his?"

"It only shows he's in the hold, not if he's alive or not." She answered him.

Sam looked worried at the plane as it came closer to landing. "Couldn't anyone on the plane get in the hold to find out?" he asked.

"No…the hold is automatically sealed in flight; there is no way to get in there. The pilot turned around as soon as he knew and has been flying at a lower altitude all the way back." Nell said.

They watched as the plane landed and taxied towards where the ambulance was standing ready.

As the hold opened Sam rushed forward with the paramedics, "G!" he yelled climbing into the hold.

He spotted the UPS crate and grabbing a crowbar from an airport worker who had climbed in with him he pried off the top of the lid.

Callen was curled in a fetal position his body shivering but he himself was totally unresponsive, Sam reached down and pulled his partner up out of the crate and into his arms.

"G…Come on man, wake up!"

Callen's head fell back limp as Sam climbed off the plane and carried Callen past his co-worker and laid him on the gurney.

The paramedics set to work, "He's hypothermic and tachycardic, we need to get him warmed up." They put monitors on him and covered him with a heating pad.

The team watched as he was wheeled into the ambulance and it headed off to hospital.

Sam walked by them without a word, climbed into his car and followed the ambulance to the hospital, determined that if his partner ever woke up, he would make it up to him. For not being there when he was needed and for doubting him.

Sam swallowed and shook his head as he followed the ambulance, and he prayed to whomever was listening, that Callen's stubborn streak against dying would continue.

 


	10. Chapter 10

The doors to the ER slammed open, as Callen shivering and out cold on a gurney, was pushed through them.

Sam was close on his heels, but was moved aside by the staff in the ER.

"Check his vitals!" the doctor called, "We may have to get him an MRI. See if they have space for us." The doctor shot a look at a nurse, "Give me 400mg of amiopdarone," he shot a look at the nurse as he hooked him up to the machines, "Is this machine broken again?" he asked looking at the readings.

"No doctor, this is a new machine, unpacked today."

"Then what the heck is interfering with it? Does anyone have a cell phone on in here?"

"No doctor?"

Sam walked out of the room and called Hetty, "Callen's been brought into the ER, his heart is thready and he's hypothermic. They are going to do some tests and they said something about an MRI."

Sam stopped as Hetty swore and cut the call off.

"Hetty?" he said to the dead phone.

He shook his head and paced outside the room as Hetty and Dr. Hurst headed down to them.

"Excuse me." A man said as he and another orderly pushed Callen towards the MRI room.

"Where are you going with him?"

"Dr. Morales wants him to undergo an MRI to see if there is any major damage to his heart, we won't be long, it's a non invasive procedure, nothing to worry about."

Sam nodded and stepped aside as they moved him into a large room down the hallway.

* * *

Callen was starting to come too, although he was very groggy as the lay him down on the track bed for the MRI scanner, He started struggling with the orderly.

"Mr. Callen, it's ok, we are just going to check you out to make sure there is no after effects from your trip."

"No!" Callen struggled, he didn't know where he was but his brain had thrown a red flag at him for the machine, he remembered always being told an MRI scan was not allowed.

The doctor came out and nodded to the two orderlies to strap him on the bed.

"It's alright Mr. Callen, I assume you are claustrophobic, this is a non invasive test, we are just going to look at your heart, the scanner is loud but doesn't hurt at all."

"No…Can't…" Callen said, his head still reeling, this room was too bright, too noisy and there were danger warnings screaming in his head.

"Tie him down." The doctor ordered, "We'll get this done and get Mr. Callen treated as soon as possible." He turned away and switched on the machine.

The second he did that Callen felt like every nerve ending in his body was on fire and he screamed. His head was pounding and he felt like his head was going to explode.

"NO! OFF! STOP IT!" Callen screamed pulling at the restraints.

The doctor turned to a nurse and smiled, "its ok this happens with some patients, its claustrophobia, he'll be fine soon."

Callen screamed at the top of his lungs as he felt something in his head move.

"STOP!" A deep voice boomed as the door flung open.

The doctor swore and stopped the machine, "Didn't you see the sign the machine is in use!" he said to the older man standing there looking furious.

The smaller woman moved to the man on the bed. "It's ok Mr. Callen, it's stopped now."

Callen looked at her unfocused and fainted.

"Who the hell are you people?"

"I'm his doctor, do you not check your patient's medical history, it says clearly on his file no MRI's." Dr. Hurst growled at him.

"I saw it. But he was out cold, and I just assumed he had claustrophobia, it's a quick procedure, we'll be done in a few moments." He said moving to retie the restraints.

"No you won't, he wasn't screaming from fear, it was pain, and you were killing him." Daniel Hurst moved over to Callen, "Untie him Hetty, I'll have him moved back to the room we were using earlier."

"You can't just move him, he was tachycardic and hypothermic, he needs to be treated, and he may need surgery on his heart."

"I cannot tell you much, but there is a piece of metal in his head. When you switched that machine on it was being dragged slowly through his brain, I have no idea now how much if any damage you have cause my patient, and if you have caused permanent damage I can assure you, you will never practice medicine again." Daniel snarled.

He stood nearby as the orderlies placed him on a gurney and started pushing him away, "I have to protest!" Dr. Morales said, "I was not told of his condition, I just was trying to help him. He's been oxygen deprived; I am not to blame from any complications arising from that."

Daniel picked up Callen's notes, "Have an ultrasound meet us in room 317."

"That's the old x-ray room?" Morales said.

Hurst nodded, "Yes it is, if you bring the ultrasound there I will allow you to check his heart." He said and walked off after Callen.

* * *

Hurst walked into the room to see Hetty stroking his face and wiping a tear she would never admit away.

"I see he captured your heart too." He smiled knowing that while they were alone they could talk freely.

"He has, he's been through so much and to hear him screaming like that broke my heart, he's never made a sound like it not even as a child." She patted his arm and moved away only to find him gripping her wrist.

"I've never seen him cry." Hurst admitted, wiping the tears that were still leaking from Callen's eyes even though he was out cold.

"The pain must have been immense." Hetty guessed.

"I would think so the MRI scanner was pulling the chip out of his brain, we will have to wait until he wakes again to see if it's still working, but he could still talk so I am hoping so." Hurst checked his vitals, "His core temperature has come up two points which is good but he's still cold. As soon as we stabilize him and check that his heart is ok then we can let Emma and the others go and see him."

Sam walked in and pulled a chair up to the wall, "I ain't leaving him again." He said and sat down his arms crossed refusing to move.

Hetty smiled and move her chair next to his, "I commend your loyalty Mr. Hanna."

"Yeah well I showed precious little of that earlier, I thought Callen had run again, I'm not letting him down again."

Dr. Morales walked in with an ultrasound machine, he plugged it in and walked over to Callen, moving the heating pad down and putting the gel on his chest.

"Ok, Mr. Callen lets get a look at that heart."

The machine beeped and was silent.

"What?" Morales looked at the machine, "It was working a moment ago?"

Daniel walked over to Callen, "its ok son, I'm here so is Sam and Hetty, there won't be any pain, let the doctor check out your heart," he said into Callen's ear.

The doctor looked at him strangely and then jumped in surprise as the machine suddenly worked.

"Just do it quick Doc, I will keep him occupied."

"He's unconscious, why would you need to keep him occupied?"

Daniel just shot him a look and turned to Callen, "I need you to calculate Pi to 118 places, backwards." He said and stepped away. "Ok that'll keep him busy, lets get on with this."

Morales did the ultrasound and looked at his monitors, "He still has a slight arrhythmia but there seems to be no scarring on the heart, it just needs a jolt, I can arrange a surgery time for him."

"How much of a charge would you need?"

"300 kilojoules I think would cover it. Just one shot."

"Wait a second." Daniel said and leaned over to Callen, "Callen, end program. New program. You need to adjust your heart rhythm, you have an arrhythmia and it's either you do it or surgery, you need a charge of approximately 300 kilojoules and you should be in the clear and then you can wake up."

Morales looked at him like he was crazy.

"Step away from the table." Daniel said.

The doctor moved but kept his eye on the man on the bed whose body arced for a second and fell down onto the bed again.

"Check it now?" Daniel asked.

Morales nodded and ran another scan. "Normal sinus rhythm…I….I don't understand."

Daniel smiled, "The miracle of modern medicine and the power of suggestion." He said. He nodded at Hetty as Morales left, and she followed him no doubt to impress how important it was that he say nothing of what he had witnessed.

* * *

Daniel pulled the heating pad up Callen's chest again, "We'll be right here my son, you rest now and warm up, you will back among friends before you know it."

Sam moved closer as Daniel checked his stats.

Callen stirred as he began to feel warmer. He murmured in as he started to wake up.

"My fault…my fault…she's dead…my fault…so sorry," Callen said moving about on the bed… "Mom…I'm sorry…didn't mean too…" more tears escaped as Sam looked at Daniel for confirmation.

"What's that about?" he asked.

Daniel shrugged, "I don't know, it could be a residual memory, of his mother's death, something in his subconscious, we won't know till he wakes up."

Sam put his hand on Callen's shoulder, "It's ok partner, you're not alone, I'm here." He said hoping against hope that Callen could hear him.

 


	11. Chapter 11

There were no more sounds from Callen for the rest of the night. He finally slept soundly, his temperature coming up very slowly until at 03.30 Daniel was able to take the heating blanket off of him and cover him with a regular blanket, which he grasped and pulled over himself with a sigh and turned on his side to sleep.

Sam stood up and stretched and nodded to Hetty who followed him out, "I'm going to get a coffee Hetty, do you want to come with me you look wiped." Sam said.

"Thank you." Hetty said giving him a tired smile.

She followed him to the cafeteria, and sank tiredly into a booth as Sam brought her a cup of tea giving her an apologetic look for the paper; he placed it in front of her and sat down facing her.

"How's Deeks?" he asked.

Hetty smiled, "He is awake and recovering nicely, he understands that you are with Mr. Callen while he recovers, he said something about Ms. Blye wearing a nurse's outfit around the office while both he and Mr. Callen recuperate, however I fear Ms. Blye vetoed that idea." She said with a slight smile as Sam grinned.

"So I take it Deeks is back in surgery?" Sam laughed.

"No, but he is on constant watch now. I do believe those two are good for each other." Hetty mused and Sam nodded in agreement.

"I'm glad he's getting better." Sam said sincerely, "Hopefully we can be back to full speed soon, Callen needs to bounce back from this…" he broke off looking into his coffee cup.

"He will I am sure of that, Mr. Callen has been through a lot worse."

"I failed him; I wasn't there to have his back." Sam said softly. "I promised myself that I wouldn't leave him without back up…I promised him…he's my friend Hetty, more than that he's my family, my brother…I didn't know any of this about him. Why didn't he let me in, why didn't he tell me?" Sam asked her.

In Sam's eyes Hetty knew everything and to not have her, nor Callen let her in on his secret, had hurt him deeply and then having him not trust the team and run out on them was unthinkable to him.

"He didn't know how to tell you." Hetty said softly.

"I'm his partner; he knows how to talk Hetty." Sam snapped.

Hetty grimaced at the taste of the paper in the tea and looked up at Sam, "How do you describe being you, looking out of your eyes, feeling what you are feeling? Would you have gone over to Mr. Callen and explained to him that when you see a phone or a computer you just see a phone or a computer?"

"No? That's what everyone sees they don't need it explaining." Sam said.

"That is not what Mr. Callen sees, but that is exactly how he thinks. He did not realize that you could not see the emissions from electrical devices as he could, I only found out about it when he asked me once why I was calling upstairs rather than going up to see Mr. Beale, I asked how he could tell and he said the blue lines from my office to Eric's. I think you were on a health kick with him at the time and you were making him walk to each department rather than call them." She recounted with a smile.

"That was two years ago!" Sam exclaimed with surprise, "I just don't get how I didn't see…" he stopped as Hetty filled in what he was about to say.

"That Mr. Callen was different to you?" she asked looking into his eyes as if she were, (And she may actually have been) staring into his soul.

Sam nodded, "I want to be there for him, I want this to not affect our working relationship or our friendship."

"Then don't let it." Hetty said sharply. "If Mr. Callen had been injured in the line of duty and God forbid been disabled because of his injuries would you have felt any different about him? If that incident in the MRI scanner means that he has…and I really am praying he does not…have a brain injury that leaves him permanently impaired would you treat him different?"

"God! NO!" Sam protested.

"This is no different to that, he is the same Mr. Callen he was a week ago, before all of this, he is still your partner and your friend."

Sam nodded as usual she was right, now he hoped he could convince Callen of that fact.

* * *

Callen opened his eyes slowly, his head hurt, in fact everything hurt…and his chest was killing him.

"Was I shot?" he asked hoping someone would be in the room, He looked about for Sam, but there was no sign of him. Maybe he was in Russia…he looked around, the room looked familiar. But he couldn't see anyone.

He was on a bed, not a gurney and he had a blanket over him, he tried to move but his limbs they ached too much, had he been drugged?

He tried to sit up and groaned as a head popped around the corner, "Mr. Callen?"

"Yeah?" he groaned.

"Your doctor will be back in, in a moment. He is consulting with our doctor Morales about your echo cardiogram."

"My what?" Callen looked confused.

"You had an irregular heartbeat and hypothermia." The nurse said walking into the room and checking his vitals.

"I did?" Callen looked around to see if there was anyone he knew, "Where am I?" he asked.

"Cedars-Sinai medical center, you were in the hold of a plane bound for Russia and it was turned back and you were barely responsive when you were found." She told him smiling sweetly.

"Where is everybody?" he asked a knot of worry forming in his gut.

"I think they are with the other man, Deeks? He's come out of his surgery and I heard them say he was asking for your boss, the small woman?" she asked not sure.

Callen gave a small grin, "Hetty, yeah…that's right, it's ok, they need to be with him. He doesn't have any family." The nurse nodded and turned to go, "I'll let the doctor know you're awake."

"Wait?!" Callen grasped her hand and then let go as if burned, "I'm sorry, but…Jessica Hurst? She had some trouble with her baby, can you find out about her for me…Please?" he pleaded, with the room shielded he couldn't access the hospital mainframe.

"I'll just be a second," she said and popped out.

Nancy the nurse walked over to her station and put the name into the computer, Jessica Hurd…aged 28, died post natal complications, baby a boy stillborn. "Oh my God, the poor woman…" she looked sad for a moment and went to give Mr. Callen the awful news.

She knocked on the door and walked in, "Mr. Callen?"

"Yeah, did you find her? Is she ok?" he asked trying to lift himself up.

She helped him up and looked at him square in the eye, "I'm sorry, your friend Jessica, there was some complications, she and the baby died, I'm sorry again, were you close?" she asked as she saw his eyes well up.

"We were…thank you…" Callen said realizing now why he was alone.

"I'm sorry again sir," she said and went on her rounds.

Callen lay on his side and cried while there was no one there; he'd killed Emma, the woman whom he thought of as his mom, and his 'sister' Jessie and his soon to be nephew. It explained the flashes of pain he remembered, being strapped to a table and Daniel looking over him while his brain felt like it was on fire. He had failed, they had looked after him, and they had given him a home and a place to run to when as a child life got too much. And he had caused them to die!

He had a respite from the pain now, but soon the doctor would be back and the pain would start again. Even his team thought he was responsible, Sam never would have left…but Sam knew now, maybe Stannislav was right, he was a freak, maybe his team thought he was a freak.

He lay too tired to run and stared up at the ceiling feeling helpless and alone, a feeling he remembered well and hated.

He did what he needed to do, before the doctor came in and they caused him more pain he would retreat behind the walls in his head, keep his mind safe, while they hurt his body and only when it was safe would he come out. Hopefully by then he'd have regained the use of his arms and legs and could go somewhere safe.

Only there was nowhere safe anymore, the two places he trusted the most were lost to him, Emma was dead and Daniel would never want him back. And Sam? Sam wouldn't want him, he'd gotten Deeks hurt, he'd failed to protect the people in his care, he was a failure. If Sam cared he'd be there not with Deeks.

With a sigh Callen lay back and focused on the ceiling as he started building his walls, as he did so he mentally ran down the list of fall back jobs he could go to. With the chip that he now knew resided in his head, that list was rapidly decreasing.

"Hell," he said aloud to the empty room, "I could always be a fry cook!"

He closed his eyes already exhausted with that small amount of effort and dreamed of being a fry cook making double double burgers a different name and a different life in a small Oceanside diner then a small smile crossed his face.

 


	12. Chapter 12

Callen lay alone for what seemed like an eternity. No one came; to be honest he wasn't expecting anyone.

The nurse who had told him about Jessie came back in, "I have your bag for you, it was left at the front desk by a Ms Blye, she said you'd need it later." She smiled, "She's pretty…Is she your girlfriend."

"No?" Callen replied confused.

"Oh, your sister then?" Nancy asked with a grin.

"No…I…I don't have any family…" Callen turned away.

"Really?" Nancy looked confused.

Callen turned away from her, he knew he was alone and did not need her to rub it in.

Nancy shrugged and left, for a person that was in his mind alone he sure had many people stopping by her nurse's station to ask how he was. Unfortunately, his private doctor had ordered no visitors until he had finished looking at the results of his tests wanting his patient to rest.

She walked outside nodding to Sam who glared at her, but then smiled. He was still mad that she would not let him in, but the doctor had given strict instructions that Callen was not to be disturbed and needed to rest.

Sam, for the life of him, couldn't figure out how come he couldn't sit inside the room and allow Callen to rest any more than he could, sitting out here, but Hetty had told him to follow the doctor's orders and allow Callen to rest and come round naturally.

Daniel had seen Dr. Morales, had gone over Callen's echocardiogram, and had concluded that he was a lucky man. He had asked Dr. Morales to go and see Callen to go over the results with him and that he would be there soon, he wanted to see how Emma and Jessie were doing.

Jessie had been stabilized and there was now no imminent danger of her delivering her son early; however, she was upset that she had made a friend a younger woman with the same name who had died whilst delivering her son early. However, Emma had decided to stay with her, her concussion being a lot better than it had been when she had been admitted and the hospital staff thought it would aid both women in their recovery.

* * *

Callen poured himself a glass of water and took a sip as the door opened.

He looked up hoping to see Daniel, but noted it was another doctor. Callen looked at his face and dropped the glass he was holding. "I…I know you?" he said moving away from the man.

"Yes Agent Callen, I am Dr. Morales. Dr. Hurst asked me to consult on your case…I want to talk to you about the echocardiogram I gave you last night." He said pulling a chair over to the bed and sitting down.

"Where is Dr. Hurst?" Callen asked not wanting to hear the answer.

"He's with his family at the moment; he will be up to see you later on." He said reaching for Callen's chart and jumping as Callen moved back from him.

"How do I know you're who you say you are…I…you…you hurt me…I don't know how…but I don't even know where I am?"

"You're in Cedars-Sinai, I told you before." Dr Morales said.

"I don't believe you, I'm in Russia I know it…I…" Callen stopped as the door opened.

"G?" Sam said poking his head around the door, "Are you ok?"

"Sam?" Callen looked shocked to see him here.

"Yeah, you're fine we got you back, you're safe in the US."

"But…?" Callen looked confused.

"You had problems, you were in the hold of a plane heading to Russia, we got you back, but your heart was off and you had hypothermia, they've been working to get you back to full strength since we got you back."

"But I'm ok now right?" Callen asked shooting a guarded look at Sam.

"You're as normal as you're going to get." Sam grinned, but faltered at the look on Callen's face. "G? Talk to me." He said.

"Am I fired…I mean…not fired, is Michelle's kill order still on me, it was a fake you know Stannislav, he lied, he hates me…but…" Callen shook his head, and winced, they had obliviously given him some kind of painkiller.

"No. You're not fired, we know the kill order was faked, Hetty fixed it, convinced them you were not read in on the operation and that Vocovich was a traitor, and he's headed to Guantanamo now." Sam told him.

Callen weighed his words and knew that Sam was telling the truth.

"What about you?" Callen asked. "Can you work with me now?"

Sam looked at Dr. Morales, "Can you give us a moment doc?" Sam asked.

Dr. Morales nodded and stood up and left the room and Sam turned to Callen and stopped.

Callen had grabbed a kidney bowl and was holding it as if he felt the need to have some sort of weapon.

"G…We're good, you know that don't you?" Sam said keeping his distance.

"Yeah…I…I know I just figured, with Emma and Jessie dead, that …"

"With what?!" Sam Exclaimed, "They're not dead." He stated and Callen dropped the bowl.

"No….But the nurse she said that Jessie was dead and I saw Emma…she was dead…Stan…he…he lied to me didn't he?" Callen surmised.

"You expected him to tell the truth?" Sam grinned.

Callen shook his head gently. "No…I feel like crap Sam…" Callen sighed and lay back down, "So if you're going to hit me with it get it over with. I can't fight anymore."

"What the hell?" Sam pulled the chair up, sat next to the bed and looked at the sadness in his partners' eyes, "What are you on about?"

"You can't work with me anymore, I'm a freak…you need a 'normal partner'" Callen said making air quotes with his hands, then he shrugged "Or has Hetty fired me already and you're just coming to tell me."

"Your chip frelted G?" Sam asked using Eric's favorite word.

"Sorry?" Callen looked confused.

"We are friends G…No…More than that, we are family, and family accepts everyone just the way they are. You will always be a part of my family, no matter what happens in our lives." Sam said making sure Callen knew he was being honest. "Now. Hetty does want to see you, but she is not firing you either. And Dr Hurst will be coming down later, I'm sure he'll let you see Emma and Jessie."

Callen stared dumbstruck at him, he knew that Sam had once or twice jokingly referred to him as a brother, and honestly, he had been a brother many times throughout his life, although never to the point that anyone kept him or referred to him as family. OK so Sam had called him 'Uncle' G. once or twice, but then all adults to little kids were uncle this and aunt that weren't they?

"Really…?" Callen stared at him.

"What?" Sam asked genuinely confused.

"You…think of me…as…family?" Callen said shocked.

Sam was surprised at the response, "Of course, I thought you knew that, I mean…when you were recovering from your gunshot wounds you practically lived at my house."

"I thought it was just guilt, you know because you were there when I was shot, that's why I left as soon as I could, I didn't want to outstay my welcome." Callen admitted.

Sam sighed, they had been partners for years, and he thought he did not have to tell him this. Then he realized, Callen had never really had this, the CIA had kept him from learning these things, the things everyone else took for granted. By denying him a permanent foster placement, or a chance at adoption they had created the perfect agent, but it had flawed the basis of the man. He really did not understand, he could be loved, people could love him and there were no conditions.

Sam stood up and wrapped his arms around Callen, "You are my family." He said.

Callen sat stiffly as Sam moved and hugged him, he did not know exactly what he was supposed to do, he knew what he wanted to do, but he was not sure.

"It's ok, it's a hug G, a brotherly hug, I love you like my brother, no strings to catches, accept it." Sam told him.

And accept it he did.

He leant into the hug and tried, and failed in holding his tears at bay.

He cried because he was relieved he was safe, He cried because Emma and Jessie were safe and not dead, he cried because he had never had an unconditional hug before and lastly he cried because Sam had told him he had a family.

Moreover, Sam never said a word. For which Callen was extremely grateful.

* * *

Hetty and Dr. Hurst, with Emma and Jessie in tow were walking down the corridor when they reached the room Callen was in, Hetty looked through the door, motioned to Sam to let him know they were there, and backed out for a few seconds.

Sam moved back and sat down as Callen composed himself.

"Thanks Sam." Callen said his voice cracking.

Sam smirked and nodded.

The door knocked and Hetty put her head around the door, "Do you mind if we come in Mr. Callen?" she asked.

Callen shot a look at Sam who gave him and almost imperceptible nod back to indicate that it was ok. "No, Sure Hetty." He said.

He looked in shock as Emma and Jessie walked into the room with Daniel.

"M…Emma…Jessie…I..." He looked down at his hand, what on earth could he say to them, I'm grateful you're not dead, I'm sorry I left you there…? He looked confused.

Emma dropped the bag she had been holding and rushed over and wrapped him in another hug. "Thank you for saving us, I am so grateful we are all alright…you are alright aren't you?" she asked looking him over.

"Yes?" Callen looked confused again, "But…You were hurt, I left…he said you were dead, I should have checked….I'm sorry."

"You didn't know, you had no idea what that horrible man would do. You did your best to protect myself and Jessie, I will be forever grateful to you son."

"But I did!" Callen protested, "I knew him, I knew as soon as I saw him what he was like I didn't realize…I didn't know…Mom…Emma I…" he was stopped by Emma's hand on his arm.

"G. Callen, you have nothing to apologize for, you didn't get us taken, you didn't decide to stick yourself in the crate and cart your butt off to Russia in the hold of an airplane, you did however throw yourself in harm's way to protect myself, and your sister. I am proud to be your foster mother son." She pulled him back into the hug.

"Thanks…Em…Mom." He smiled.

Daniel had walked to the end of the bed and picked up Callen's chart, "I talked to Dr. Morales son, he's pleased and frankly amazed by your progress, he understands he can't be told how you managed to regulate your heartbeat but he is pleased that you have recovered well,"

"I managed to do what?" Callen looked confused again.

"You regulated your heartbeat, I think that chip of yours is still receiving instructions even if you're out cold."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Callen asked.

"I shouldn't think so, no one but us knows it's there and all it can do is help to heal you and keep your brain busy, you won't turn into a zombie or anything like that." Daniel laughed seeing the worry on Callen's face.

Hetty stood up looking at Callen being fussed over by his old family and his new one and smiled.

"Mr. Callen, I have a message for you from the Director of the CIA." She said, all eyes turned to her and Callen gripped the blanket he had tighter, Emma put her hand comfortingly over his.

Hetty smiled, "He had no idea about Project 'C' being used on children, he thought the 'C' stood for Chip not Callen and although he was aware of Mr. Kort's involvement in the project, your forced participation and the indignities and lack of a stable home the CIA forced on you…Well, lets just say the current director was shocked." She watched as he took in the information allowing Emma to rub her hand up and down his arm for comfort.

"There will be no kill order, now, nor in the future. Your name and involvement in the project will be scrubbed from all records, only those of us in this room, Ms. Blye, Mr. Deeks, Miss Jones and Mr. Beale will have any idea that you had ever been a part of it." She told them. "Also, The Director sent you this." She handed him an envelope.

Callen opened it and read the letter, "It's an apology, and a check?" he said he turned the check over and dropped it in surprise.

"He said if it wasn't enough to let him know and they would see if they could give you more." Hetty said

"M…More?" Callen said shocked. "Hetty? There's ten million dollars here? How? How can they afford that?"

"I was told it was to compensate you for the lost of your mother and sister and the lost of a chance of a childhood and for all you went through." She said amazed that the check had been for so much. She had expected five million, but the Director had outdone himself.

"You gonna retire?" Sam asked with a fake grin feeling slightly worried.

"No? I'd get bored, besides why would I leave my family?" Callen smiled.

Emma hugged him tight, "We are all your family and we won't leave you either."

Callen sat up, "How is Deeks doing?" He asked worried for the rest of his team.

"Mr. Deeks is in the process of being discharged and will be recuperating with Ms. Blye." Hetty grinned.

Callen smirked, "Brilliant so when can I get out of here?" He asked with a grin.

 


	13. Chapter 13

Callen had sat with his new family that night, and at about 3am he had gotten up, got dressed and left.

He had left a note, saying he was fine, but he needed some time to get his head around all this. He had sent a message to Hetty to arrange for a two weeks leave and left Sam a message telling him he would be fine.

For someone who had grown up with no family the amount of people he needed to inform now was staggering to him.

He was not hurting too much, nothing that pain killers wouldn't cure and he grabbed his clothes and left.

It wasn't that he was running away from his family, far from it…He had just been given all this information and he needed to decide where his life was going from here.

This was something he needed to do alone. He knew Sam and the others would want to give their advice, and the fact that he had money and a lot of it now, always brought the armchair 'financial' advisors out in people. However, there were other things he needed to take into consideration. The fact that the CIA had parted him from his family, they had put him through this experiment and kept him from having a family, he needed to just, think.

As he pulled into his driveway he smiled, not only could he afford the time, but also he did not have to sit at home either.

He grabbed his bag and a change of clothes, and his cell phone.

Within moments he'd made a call and was off.

* * *

Two weeks later, bag in hand and a lot more tanned than when he left Callen sauntered into the mission. He looked well rested and healthy and Hetty let out a sigh of relief she didn't even know she had been holding in.

"Good Morning Mr. Callen," She said with a smile, he was as usual the first one in. "Mr. Hanna will be pleased to see you back, he's been fretting while you were gone."

"Fretting?" Callen followed the smaller woman to her office and sat down.

Hetty nodded, "Fretting, he seemed to think that you wouldn't be coming back."

"I said I would." Callen snapped. "God, why would he think I'd run away….go nowhere to run too, I just needed some time Hetty!" he exclaimed as he took the cup of tea she offered him.

"It was a lot to process, I understand." Hetty said taking a sip and watching him covertly.

Callen nodded, "I'm not sure if I've worked everything out, but I have made a few decisions." He said.

Hetty inclined her head slightly in an indication to show that she really wanted to know but was unsure of asking.

Callen smiled, "I'm staying with NCIS, I'm happy here…I just needed to do some stuff." He told her.

"Have you been to see the Hurst's while you were away?" Hetty asked.

Callen smiled and nodded, "I did, Mom made this huge dinner and I don't think I could move for three hours." He grinned at the memory, Jessie had introduced her new husband to him and they had gotten on tremendously. He had sat there feeling uncomfortable as Emma and Daniel introduced him as Jessie's brother. He had felt the need to explain that he was their foster child but Steven had turned around and grinned, "Foster child or not, they love you like a son and you are Jessie's brother and our son's uncle."

At that Callen had relaxed, he felt as though he was as welcome there as he felt in Sam's home. It was then he realized that Sam was family too, and leaving and starting again was out of the question. He needed this…this feeling of belonging, this feeling of family.

"I am glad to hear it." Hetty said. "It must have been nice, spending time with your family."

"Yeah…yeah it was." Callen said, "I must admit, I'm kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I'm hoping it won't and for the first time in years Hetty, I have a family and I am hoping."

"Hope is a very good thing to have Mr. Callen."

"I know Hetty, really I do know…I have made a few decisions though, a few things will be changing." Callen said looking at Hetty and missing Sam coming in, catching the end of the conversation, and tensing up.

"What do you feel the need to change Mr. Callen?" Hetty asked hesitantly.

"I'm not working for the CIA again, no more secondments to their teams for missions. I don't trust them and I won't work for them, or with them…unless it's an NCIS case." He added.

She nodded it was completely understandable.

"Also, I have a check for you, the last installment on my house." he said, handing her an envelope.

"Ah, yes…Thank you, so are you going to make some improvements?" she asked wanting to know what he was doing with the money.

Callen shook his head, "No, I'm selling the house; it was nice…I did appreciate you buying it for me Hetty, the thought you put into it was appreciated. However, it is the Rostoffs home, not mine. It was just a nice memory, somewhere to get used to owning a home." He shrugged as the woman watched him and he suppressed a smile, he could almost hear her brain whirring trying to figure out where he was going to go next.

"It's time for me to move from the past and into the future." He said

"Does this mean you are…?" She did not want to put it into words.

"I am not totally abandoning my search for my father; however I am going to move on with my life, Hopefully, I will one day find my father. However, my whole life has been on hold for years, Hetty. I have not even been able to meet a woman properly, have a relationship because I was so hung up on who I was. Not anymore, I want to fall in love, have a family of my own and if I am meant to meet my father in the future, then so be it." He said.

Hetty smiled this was good to hear, "Do you have anyone in particular in mind?" she asked.

Callen smiled but said nothing, "I'm staying in my house for now, but I have a few idea's where I'd like to move to…somewhere with good security." He said changing the subject.

"Maybe Mr. Hanna could help you with finding somewhere?" she suggested.

"I will be asking his opinion, after all if my security isn't top notch I'll never hear the end of it," Callen grinned shooting a look towards Sam who was trying to be inconspicuous while listening in.

"You will inform me when you move won't you?" Hetty asked.

Callen grinned, "You'll know when I move, I do actually have my eye on a new houses near you." He admitted.

"So maybe I'll be able to visit and meet your mystery lady." Hetty pushed slightly.

"When I get one, sure." Callen turned as the familiar bantering of Kensi and Deeks coming to work filled his ears. "You know that house of mine, would make a great starter home." He said to Hetty as he looked over at them and he went to join them.

* * *

"CALLEN!" Kensi and Deeks called at the same time as he jogged over to join them, "We thought you'd quit." Kensi said looking at him, "You haven't have you?"

Callen laughed, "Nope…come on I'm the greatest asset you have." He dropped his bag and looked at his paperwork lifting the pile from his in tray to his out tray.

"You do have to actually do that you know…" Sam nudged.

"I did it this morning while I was jogging." Callen admitted.

"No fair!" Kensi groused, "I wish I could do that…" she lifted a heavy file and dropped it down on the desk as Deek swiftly dropped a chocolate bar on top of the file. "Thank you." She said softly to Deeks and smiled at him.

Sam smirked at Callen and went to his own pile.

Callen was back and they were ok with him. He leaned back in his chair and sipped the coffee Sam had left on his desk for him. Admittedly he had been worried when he left for work this morning, but this was good. His mom had been right, family is family and they accept you just the way you are.

 


End file.
